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YOUNG  FOLKS'  HISTORY 


OF 


ROME. 


BY 

CHARLOTTE    M.    YONGE, 

Author  of  "The  Heir  of  Redclyffe,"  ''Little  Lucy's 

Wonderful  Globe,''   "Book  of  Golden  Deeds," 

"Young  Folks'   History  of  Germany," 

"Greece,"  "France,"   "England," 

&c. 


c^O^  ■iQiCS'XCV'^-j 


BOSTON 
D     LOTHROP     COMPANY 

FRANKLIN   AND   HAWLEY   STREETS 


Copyright  by 
D.  Lothrop  &  Company. 


Press-work  by  Rockwell  A  Churchill. 


PREFACE 


r  I  ^HIS  sketch  of  the  History  of  Rome  covers 
the  period  till  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Great 
as  head  of  the  new  Western  Empire.  The  history 
has  been  given  as  briefly  as  could  be  done  consist- 
ently with  such  details  as  can  alone  make  it  inter- 
esting to  all  classes  of  readers. 

CHARLOTTE  M.  YONGE. 


CONTENTS, 


*«c 


:hap.  page, 

1.— Italy 13 

2. — The  Wanderings  of  ^Eneas 21 

3.— The  Founding  of  Rome.     B.C.  753— 713       .        .        ,31 

4-Numa  and  Tullus.    b.c.  713—618    ....  39 

5.— The  Driving  Out  of  the  Tarquins.     b.c.  578—309       .  47 

6. — The  "War  with  Porsena 55 

7. — The  Roman  Government 66 

8. — Menenius  Agrippa's  Fable,    b.c.  494       ...  74 

9. — Coriolanus  and  Cinciimatus.     B.C.  458  S4 

10. — The  Decemvirs,     b.c.  450        .  92 

11. — Camillus'  Banishment 101 

12.— The  Sack  of  Rome.     B.C.  390           ....  110 

13. —The  Plebeian  Consulate,     b.c.  367               ,         .        .  119 


(v.i 


VI. 


Contents. 


CHAP. 

14. — The  Devotion  of  Decius.    B.C.  357 


15.— The  Samnite  Wars 

16.— The  War  with  Pyrrhus.    280—271 

17.— The  First  Punic  War.     264—240 

18.— Conquest  of  Cisalpine  Gaul.     240—219 

19.— The  Second  Pnnic  War.    219       ... 

20.     The  First  Eastern  War.     215—183 

21. — The  Conquest  of  Greece,  Corinth,  and  Carthage. 

179—145 

22.— The  Gracchi.     137—122 

23.— The  Wars  of  Marius.     106—98 

24.— The  Adventures  of  Marius.     93—84 

25.— Sulla's  Proscription.    88—71 

26.— The  Career  of  Pompeius.    70—63  . 

27. — Pompeius  and  Caesar.     61 — 48 

28.— Julius  Caesar.     48—44      .... 

29.— The  Second  Triumvirate.    44—83 

30. — Caesar  Augustus.     B.C.  33 — A.D.  14 

31. — Tiberius  and  Caligula.     A.D.  14 — 41 

32. — Claudius  and  Nero.     A.D.  41 — 68    . 

33.— The  Flavian  Family.    62—96 

34.— The  Age  of  the  Antonines.    96—194      . 

35.— The  Praetorian  Influence.     197—284 

36.— The  Division  of  the  Empire.     284—312 

37.— Constantine  the  Great.     312—337 

38.— Constantius.     337—364    .... 

89.— Valentinian  and  his  Family.     364—392. 


PAGE. 
127 

135 

144 
151 
163 

172 
181 

188 
195 
203 
212 
220 
229 
242 
252 
263 
273 
285 
297 
305 
317 
326 
337 
345 
355 
S64 


Contents.  vii. 

CHAP.  PAGE. 

40.— Theodosius  the  Great.     392—395    ....  374 

41.—  Alaric  the  Goth.     395—410 383 

42.— The  Vandals.     403 394 

43.— Attila  the  Hun.     435—457 404 

44.— Theodoric  the  Ostrogoth.    457—561       ...  416 

45. — Belisarius.     533 — 563 425 

46.— Pope  Gregory  the  Great.     563—800         ...  434 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The  Pope's  Doortender.         (Frontispiece.)  page. 

The  Tiber          .......  14 

Curious  Pottery      ......  15 

Jupiter              .......  17 

The  Coast                ......  23 

Mount  Etna     .......  25 

Carthage      .......  28 

Roman  Soldier              .             .....  30 

Gladiatorial  Shows  at  a  Banquet           ...  34 

The  Forum      .......  37 

Janus           .......  41 

Actors    ........  45 

Sybil's  Cave          ......  50 

Brutus  condemning  his  sons        •  .  .  .57 

Roman  Ensigns,  Standards,  Trumpets  etc         .            .  63 

Head  of  Jupiter           .           .            ....  68 

Female  Costumes               .....  70 

Female  Costumes         .  .  .  .  .  .71 

Senatorial  Palace              .....  79 

(viii.) 


List  of  Illustrations.  ix 

PAGE. 

View  of  a  Roinan  Harbor        .  .  <>  .  .81 

Roman  Camp  ......  87 

Ploughing  .  .  .  .  o  .  .89 

Death  of  Virginia    .  ...  95 

Chariot  Races  ....  .  .    9S 

Arrow  Machine         ...  .  .  .  .        102 

Siege  Machine  ....  .    105 

Ruins  of  the  Forum  at  Rome.        .  Ill 

Entry  of  the  Forum  Romanian  by  the  Via  Sacra  .     117 

Costumes     ......  .  120 

Costume  ......  .        121 

Curtius  leaping  into  the  Gulf  .....   125 

The  Apennines     .......    129 

Combat  between  a  Minnillo  and  a  Samnite  .  .        137 

Combat  between  a  light  armed  Gladiator  and  a  Samnite        137 
Ancient  Rome      .......    141 

Pyrrhus  ......        145 

Roman  Orator    .......    147 

Roman  Ship  ......        153 

Roman  Order  of  Battle  ......   159 

The  wounded  Gaul  .....         165 

Hannibal's  Vow  .  .  .  .  .  .168 

In  the  Pyrenees        .  .....         170 

Meeting  of  Hannibal  and  Scipio  at  Zama       .  .  .   173 

Archimedes  .  .  .  .  .  178 

Hannibal  ......  .   184 

Corinth  .......         190 


x.  List  of  Illustrations. 

PAGE. 

Cornelia  and  her  Sons             .....  196 

Roman  Centurion              .....  201 

Marius                .......  205 

One  of  the  Trophies,  called  of  Marius,  at  the  Capitol  at 

Rome          .......  207 

The  Catapult          .            .            ...            .            .  215 

Island  on  the  Coast      ......  217 

Palazzo  Vecchio,  Florence           ....  223 

Cornelius  Sulla             ......  225 

Coast  of  Tyre          .......  231 

Mountains  of  Armenia           .....  235 

Cicero          .......  238 

Colossal  Statue   of   Pompeius    of    the   Palazzo   Spada   of 

Rome             ......  239 

Pompeius           .......  243 

Amphitheatre        ......  246 

The  Arena         .......  247 

Julius  Caesar          ......  253 

Cato       . 254 

Funeral  Solemnities  in  the  Columbarium  of  the  House 

of  Julius  Caesar  at  the  Porta  Capena  in  Rome            .  255 

Marcus  Antonius               .....  265 

Marcus  Brutus             ......  268 

Alexandria.             ......  270 

Caius  Octavius  .  .  .  .  .  .272 

Statue  of  Augustus  at  the  Vatican         ,            .            .  275 

Paintings  in  the  House  of  Livia        ....  281 


List  of  Illustrations.  xi. 


?AGI. 

Ruins  of  the  Palaces  of  Tiberius  .  ,  .  287 

Agrippiua  ....,,.     290 

Rome  in  the  time  of  Augustus  Caesar     .  ,  293 

Claudius  .  ,     298 

Nero  .......  301 

Arch  of  Titus  .  .  .  .  .  .SOS 

Vesuvius  previous  to  the  Eruption  of  A.D.  63  .  311 

Persecution  of  the  Christians  ....     314 

Coin  of  Nero  ......  316 

Temple  of  Antoninus  and  Faustina  .  .  .     319 

Marcus  Aurelius    .  .  .  325 

Septimus  Severus        .  .  ...     327 

Antioch      .....  .328 

Alexander  Severus       .  .  .  .     329 

Temple  of  the  Sun  at  Palmyra     .  332 

The  Catacombs  at  Rome  .  .  .     333 

Coin   of  Severus    ....  .  336 

Diocletian         .  .  .  .  .  .  .338 

Diocletian  in  Retirement  ,,  341 

Constantine  the  Great  .....     343 

Constantinople      ......  347 

Council  of  Nicea  ......     349 

Catacombs  ......  352 

Julian  .  .  .  .  ,  .     -       .     357 

Arch  of  Constantine         .  361 

Alexandria         .......     365 

Goths  .......  36*7 


xii.  List  of  Illustrations. 

PAGE. 

Convent  on  the  Hills    .  .  .  .  .  .372 

Julian  Alps.  .......  375 

Roman  Hall  of  Justice  .....    377 

Colonnades  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome  .  .  .  385 

Marie's  Burial  .  .....    391 

Roman  Clock  ......  396 

Spanish  Coast     .......    398 

Vandals  plundering  .....  401 

Pyramids  and  Sphynx,  Egypt  ,  403 

Hunnish  Camp       ...  .  405 

St.  Mark's,  Venice        .  .  .  .  .409 

The  Pope's  House  .  .  .  ,  ,  413 

Romulus  Augustus  resigns  the  Crown  .     419 

Illustration  .......  423 

Naples      ......  .427 

Constantinople.       ......  429 

Pope  Gregory  the  Great  .  ...     435 

The  Pope's  Pulpit  .  437 

Battle  ->f  Tours      .  .    441 


YOUNG  FOLKS'  HISTORY  OF  EOME. 


CHAPTER    I. 


ITAX.Y. 


1"   AM   going  to    tell   you  next  about  the  most 

-■-     famous  nation  in  the  world.     Going  westward 

from  Greece  another  peninsula  stretches  down  into 

the  Mediterranean.     The  Apennine  Mountains  run 

like  a  limb  stretching  out  of  the  Alps  to  the  south 

eastward,  and    on   them  seems  formed  that  land, 

shaped  somewhat  like  a  leg,  which  is  called  Italy- 

Round  the  streams  that  flowed  down  from  these 

bills,  valleys  of  fertile  soil  formed  themselves,  and 

a  great  many  different  tribes  and  people  took  up 

their  abode  there,  before  there  was  any  history  to 

explain  their  coming.     Putting  together  what  can 
13 


14 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


be  proved  about  them,  it  is  plain,  however,  that 
most  of  them  came  of  that  old  stock  from  which  the 
Greeks  descended,  and  to  which  we  belong  our- 
selves, and  they  spoke  a  language  which  had  the 
same  root  as  ours  and  as  the  Greek.  From  one  of 
these  nations  the  best  known  form  of  this,  as  it  was 


THE    TIBER. 


polished  in  later  times,  was  called  Latin,  from  the 
tribe  who  spoke  it. 

About  the  middle  of  the  peninsula  there  runs 
down,  westward  from  the  Apennines,  a  river  called 
the  Tiber,  flowing  rapidly  between  seven  low  hills, 
which  recede  as  it  approaches  the  sea.  One,  in 
est>ecial,  called  the    Palatine  Hill,  rose  separately, 


Italy. 


15 


with  a  flat  top  and  steep  sides,  about  four  hundred 
yards  from  the  river,  and  girdled  in  by  the  other 
six.  This  was  the  place  where  the  great  Roman 
power  grew  up  from  beginnings,  the  truth  of  which 
cannot  now  be  discovered. 

There  were  several  nations  living  round  these 
hills  —  the  Etruscans,  Sabines,  and  Latins  being 
the  chief.  The  homes  of  these  nations  seem  to 
^ave  been  in  the  valleys  round  the  spurs  of  the 


CURIOUS    POTTEKV. 


Apennines,  where  they  had  farms  and  fed  their 
flocks  ;  but  above  them  was  always  the  hill  which 
they  had  fortified  as  strongly  as  possible,  and  where 
they  took  refuge  if  their  enemies  attacked  them. 
The  Etruscans  built  very  mighty  walls,  and  also 
managed  the  drainage  of  their  cities  wonderfully 
well.  Many  of  their  works  remain  to  this  day,  and, 
in  especial,  their   monuments  have   been  opened, 


16  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

and  the  tomb  of  each  chief  has  been  found,  adorned 
with  figures  of  himself,  half  lying,  half  sitting ;  also 
curious  pottery  in  red  and  black,  from  which  some- 
thing  of  their  lives  and  ways  is  to  be  made  out. 
They  spoke  a  different  language  from  what  has 
become  Latin,  and  they  had  a  different  religion, 
believing  in  one  great  Soul  of  the  World,  and  also 
thinking  much  of  rewards  and  punishments  after 
death.  But  we  know  hardly  anything  about  them, 
except  that  their  chiefs  were  called  Lucumos,  and 
that  they  once  had  a  wide  power  which  they  had 
lost  before  the  time  of  history.  The  Romans  called 
them  Tusci,  and  Tuscany  still  keeps  its  name. 

The  Latins  and  the  Sabines  were  more  alike,  and 
also  more  like  the  Greeks.  There  were  a  great 
many  settlements  of  Greeks  in  the  southern  parts 
of  Italy,  and  they  learnt  something  from  them. 
They  had  a  great  many  gods.  Every  house  had 
its  own  guardian.  These  were  called  Lares,  or 
Penates,  and  were  generally  represented  as  little 
figures  of  dogs  lying  by  the  hearth,  or  as  brass 
bars  with  dogs'  heads.  This  is  the  reason  that  the 
bars  which  close  in  an  open  hearth  are  still  called 
dogs.  Whenever  there  was  a  meal  in  the  house 
the  master  began  by  pouring  out  wine  to  the 
Lares,  and  also  to  his  own  ancestors,  of  whom  he 


Italy. 


17 


kept  figures ;  for  these  natives  thought  much  of 
their  families,  and  all  one  family  had  the  same 
name,  like  our  surname,  such  as  Tullius  or  Appius, 
the  daughters  only  changing  it  by  making  it  end 


in  a  instead  of  us,  and  the  men  having  separate 
names  standing  first,  such  as  Marcus  or  Lucius, 
though  their  sisters  were  only  numbered  to  dis' 
tinguish  them. 


18  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Each  city  had  a  guardian  spirit,  each  stream  its 
nymph,  each  wood  its  faun ;  also  there  were  gods 
to  whom  the  boundary  stones  of  estates  were 
dedicated.  There  was  a  goddess  of  fruits  called 
Pomona,  and  a  god  of  fruits  named  Vertumnus. 
In  their  names  the  fields  and  the  crops  were  sol- 
emnly blest,  and  all  were  sacred  to  Saturn.  He, 
according  to  the  old  legends,  had  first  taught  hus- 
bandry, and  when  he  reigned  in  Italy  there  was  a 
golden  age,  when  every  one  had  his  own  field, 
lived  by  his  own  handiwork,  and  kept  no  slaves. 
There  was  a  feast  in  honor  of  this  time  every  year 
called  the  Saturnalia,  when  for  a  few  days  the 
slaves  were  all  allowed  to  act  as  if  they  were  free, 
and  have  all  kinds  of  wild  sports  and  merriment. 
Afterwards,  when  Greek  learning  came  in,  Saturn 
was  mixed  up  with  the  Greek  Kronos,  or  Time, 
who  devours  his  offspring,  and  the  reaping-hook 
his  figures  used  to  carry  for  harvest  became  Time's 
scythe.  The  sky-god,  Zeus  or  Deus  Pater  (or 
father),  was  shortened  into  Jupiter ;  Juno  was  his 
wife,  and  Mars  was  god  of  war,  and  in  Greek 
times  was  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  Ares  ;  Pallas 
Athene  was  joined  with  the  Latin  Minerva  ;  Hestia, 
the  goddess  of  the  hearth,  was  called  Vesta ;  and. 
in  truth,  we  talk  of  the  Greek  gods  by  their  Latiu 


Italy.  19 

names.  The  old  Greek  tales  were  not  known  to 
the  Latins  in  their  first  times,  but  only  afterwards 
learnt  from  the  Greeks.  They  seem  to  have 
thought  of  their  gods  as  graver,  higher  beings, 
further  off,  and  less  capricious  and  fanciful  than  the 
legends  about  the  weather  had  made  them  seem  to 
the  Greeks.  Indeed,  these  Latins  were  a  harder, 
tougher,  graver,  fiercer,  more  business-like  race  al- 
together than  the  Greeks  ;  not  so  clever,  thought- 
ful, or  poetical,  but  with  more  of  what  we  should 
now  call  sterling  stuff  in  them. 

At  least  so  it  was  with  that  great  nation  which 
spoke  their  language,  and  seems  to  have  been  an 
offshoot  from  them.  Rome,  the  name  of  which  is 
said  to  mean  the  famous,,  is  thought  to  have  been 
at  first  a  cluster  of  little  villages,  with  forts  to  pro- 
tect them  on  the  hills,  and  temples  in  the  forts. 
Jupiter  had  a  temple  on  the  Capitoline  Hill,  with 
cells  for  liis  worship,  and  that  of  Juno  and  Minerva  ; 
and  the  two-faced  Janus,  the  god  of  gates,  had  his 
upon  the  Janicular  Hill.  Besides  these,  there  were 
the  Palatine,  the  Esquiline,  the  Aventine,  the 
Caelian,  and  the  Quirinal.  The  people  of  these  vil- 
lages called  themselves  Quirites,  or  spearmen, 
when  they  formed  themselves  into  an  army  and 
made    war   on   their   neighbors,   the    Sabines   and 


20  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Latins,  and  by-and-by  built  a  wall  enclosing  all  the 
seven  hills,  and  with  a  strip  of  ground  within,  free 
from  houses,  where  sacrifices  were  offered  and 
omens  sought  for. 

The  history  of  these  people  was  not  written  till 
long  after  they  had  grown  to  be  a  mighty  and  ter- 
rible power,  and  had  also  picked  up  many  Greek 
notions.  Then  they  seem  to  have  made  their  his- 
tory backwards,  and  worked  up  their  old  stories 
and  songs  to  explain  the  names  and  customs  the}r 
found  among  them,  and  the  tales  they  told  were 
formed  into  a  great  history  by  one  Titus  Livius. 
It  is  needful  to  know  these  stories  which  every- 
one used  to  believe  to  be  really  history  ;  so  we  will 
tell  them  first,  beginning,  however,  with  a  story 
told  by  the  poet  Virgil. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  WANDERINGS    OF   .ENEAS. 

YOU  remember  in  the  Greek  history  the  burn- 
ing of  Troy,  and  how  Priam  and  all  his 
family  were  cut  off.  Among  the  Trojans  there 
was  a  prince  called  JEneas,  whose  father  was  An- 
chises,  a  cousin  of  Priam,  and  his  mother  was  said 
to  be  the  goddess  Venus.  When  he  saw  that  the 
city  was  lost,  he  rushed  back  to  his  house,  and 
took  his  old  father  Anchises  on  his  back,  giving 
him  his  Penates,  or  little  images  of  household  gods, 
to  take  care  of,  and  led  by  the  hand  his  little  son 
lulus,  or  Ascanius,  while  his  wife  Creusa  followed 
close  behind,  and  all  the  Trojans  who  could  get 
their  arms  together  joined  him,  so  that  they  es- 
caped in  a  body  to  Mount  Ida ;  but  just  as  they 
were  outside  the  city  he  missed  poor  Creusa,  and 

though  he  rushed  back  and  searched  for  her  every- 
21 


22  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

where,  he  never  could  find  her.  For  the  sake  of 
his  care  for  his  gods,  and  for  his  old  father,  he  is 
always  known  as  the  pious  iEneas. 

In  the  forests  of  Mount  Ida  he  built  ships  enough 
to  set  forth  with  all  his  followers  in  quest  of  the 
new  home  which  his  mother,  the  goddess  Venus, 
gave  him  hopes  of.  He  had  adventures  rather 
like  those  of  Ulysses  as  he  sailed  about  the  Medi- 
terranean. Once  in  the  Strophades,  some  clusters 
belonging  to  the  Ionian  Islands,  when  he  and  his 
troops  had  landed  to  get  food,  and  were  eating  the 
flesh  of  the  numerous  goats  which  they  found 
climbing  about  the  rocks,  down  on  them  came  the 
harpies,  horrible  birds  with  women's  faces  and 
Looked  hands,  with  which  the}^  snatched  away  the 
food  and  spoiled  what  they  could  not  eat.  The 
Trojans  shot  at  them,  but  the  arrows  glanced  off 
their  feathers  and  did  not  hurt  them.  However, 
they  all  flew  off  except  one,  who  sat  on  a  high 
rock,  and  croaked  out  that  the  Trojans  would  be 
punished  for  thus  molesting  the  harpies  by  being 
tossed  about  till  they  should  reach  Italy,  but  there 
they  should  not  build  their  city  till  they  should 
have  been  so  hungry  as  to  eat  their  very  trenchers. 

They  sailed  away  from  this  dismal  prophetess, 
and  touched  on  the  coast  of  Epirus,  where  iEneas 


The  Wanderings  of  JEneas.  23 

found  his  cousin  Helenus,  son  to  old  Priam,  reign- 
ing over  a  little  new  Troy,  and  married  to  Andro- 
mache, Hector's  wife,  whom  he  had  gained  after 
Pyrrhus  had  been  killed.     Helenus  was  a  prophet, 


THE    COAST. 


and  gave  iEneas  much  advice.  In  especial  lie  .;aid 
that  when  the  Trojans  should  come  to  Italy,  they 
would  find,  under  the  holly-trees  by  the  river  side, 
A  large  white  old  sow  lying  on  the  ground,  with  a 
litter  of  thirty  little  pigs  round  her,  and  this  should 


24  Young  Folks'  History  of  Home. 

be  a  sign  to  them  where  they  were  to  build  their 
city. 

By  his  advice  the  Trojans  coasted,  round  the 
south  of  Sicily,  instead  of  trying  to  pass  the  strait 
between  the  dreadful  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  and 
just  below  Mount  Etna  an  unfortunate  man  came 
running  down  to  the  beach  begging  to  be  taken  in. 
He  was  a  Greek,  who  had  been  left  behind  when 
Ulysses  escaped  from  Polyphemus'  cave,  and  had 
made  his  way  to  the  forests,  where  he  had  lived 
ever  since.  They  had  just  taken  him  in  when 
they  saw  Cyclops  coming  down,  with  a  pine  tree 
for  a  staff,  to  wash  the  burning  hollow  of  his  lost 
eye  in  the  sea,  and  they  rowed  off  in  great  terror. 

Poor  old  Anchises  died  shortly  after,  and  while 
his  son  was  still  sorrowing  for  him,  Juno,  who 
hated  every  Trojan,  stirred  up  a  terrible  tempest, 
which  drove  the  ships  to  the  south,  until,  just  as 
the  sea  began  to  calm  down,  they  came  into  a  beau- 
tiful bay,  enclosed  by  tall  cliffs  with  woods  over- 
hanging them.  Here  the  tired  wanderers  landed, 
and,  lighting  a  fire,  --Eneas  went  in  quest  of  food. 
Coming  out  of  the  forest,  they  looked  down  from 
a  hill,  and  beheld  a  multitude  of  people  building  a 
city,  raising  walls,  houses,  towers,  and  temples. 
Into  one  of  these   temples   iEneas  entered,  and  to 


The  Wanderings  of  JEneas.  27 

his  amazement  he  found  the  walls  sculptured  with 
all  the  story  of  the  siege  of  Troy,  and  all  his 
friends  so  perfectly  represented,  that  he  burst  into 
tears  at  the  sight. 

Just  then  a  beautiful  queen,  attended  by  a  whol^ 
troop  of  nymphs,  came  into  the  temple.  This  lady 
was  Dido  ;  her  husband,  Sichseus,  had  been  king  of 
Tyre,  till  he  was  murdered  by  his  brother  Pygma- 
lion, who  meant  to  have  married  her,  but  she  fled 
from  him  with  a  band  of  faithful  Tyrians  and  all 
her  husband's  treasure,  and  had  landed  on  the 
north  coast  of  Africa.  There  she  begged  of  the 
chief  of  the  country  as  much  land  as  could  be  en- 
closed by  a  bullock's  hide.  He  granted  this  read- 
ily ;  and  Dido,  cutting  the  hide  into  the  finest  pos- 
sible strips,  managed  to  measure  off  with  it  ground 
enough  to  build  the  splendid  city  which  she  had 
named  Carthage.  She  received  iEneas  most  kind- 
ly, and  took  all  his  men  into  her  city,  hoping  to 
keep  them  there  for  ever,  and  make  him  her  hus- 
band. iEneas  himself  was  so  happy  there,  that  he 
forgot  all  his  plans  and  the  prophecies  he  had 
heard,  until  Jupiter  sent  Mercury  to  rouse  him  to 
fulfil  his  destiny.  He  obeyed  the  call ;  and  Dido 
was  so  wretched  at  his  departure  that  she  caused  a 
great  funeral  pile  to  be  built,  laid  herself  on  the 


28 


Young  Folks''   History   of  Borne. 


top,  and  stabbed  herself,  with  iEneas'  sword ;  the 
pile  was  burnt,  and  the  Trojan's  saw  the  flame  from 
their  ships  without  knowing  the  cause. 

By-and-by   iEneas  landed  at  a   plane    in   Italy 
named  Cumse.     There    dwelt   one   of  the    Sybils. 


CARTHAGE. 


These  were  wondrous  virgins  whom  Apollo  had 
endowed  with  deep  wisdom ;  and  when  iEneas 
went  to  consult  the  Cumsean  Sybil,  she  told  him 
that  he  must  visit  the  under-world  of  Pluto  to 
learn  his  fate.  First,  however,  he  had  to  go  into 
a  forest,  and  find  there  and  gather  a  golden  bough, 
which  he  was  to  bear  in  his  hand  to  keep  him  safe. 


The  Wanderings  of  JEneas.  29 

Long  he  sought  it,  until  two  cloves,  his  mother's 
birds,  came  flying  before  him  to  show  him  the  tree 
where  gold  gleamed  through  the  boughs,  and  he 
found  the  branch  growing  on  the  tree  as  mistletoe 
grows  on  the  thorn. 

Guarded  with  this,  and  guided  by  the  Sybil, 
after  a  great  sacrifice,  JEneas  passed  into  a  gloomy 
cave,  where  he  came  to  the  river  Styx,  round  which 
flitted  all  the  shades  who  had  never  received  fu- 
neral rites,  and  whom  the  ferryman,  Charon,  would 
not  carry  over.  The  Sybil,  however,  made  him 
take  JEneas  across,  his  boat  groaning  under  the 
weight  of  a  human  body.  On  the  other  side  stood 
Cerberus,  but  the  Sybil  threw  him  a  cake  of  honey 
and  of  some  opiate,  and  he  lay  asleep,  while  iEneas 
passed  on  and  found  in  myrtle  groves  all  who  had 
died  for  love,  among  them,  to  his  surprise,  poor 
forsaken  Dido.  A  little  further  on  he  found  the 
home  of  the  warriors,  and  held  converse  with  his 
old  Trojan  friends.  He  passed  by  the  place  of 
doom  for  the  wicked,  Tartarus  ;  and  in  the  Elysiau 
fields,  full  of  laurel  groves  and  meads  of  asphodel, 
he  found  the  spirit  of  his  father  Anchises,  and  witli 
him  was  allowed  to  see  the  souls  of  all  their  de- 
scendants, as  yet  unborn,  who  should  raise  the 
glory  of  their  name.     They  are  described  on  to  the 


30 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


very  time  when  the  poet  wrote  to  whom  we  owe 
all  the  tale  of  the  wanderings  of  iEneas,  namely, 
Virgil,  who  wrote  the  JEJneid,  whence  all  these 
stories  are  taken.  He  further  tells  us  that  iEneas 
landed  in  Italy  just  as  his  old  nurse  Caieta  died,  at 
the  place  which  is  still  called  Gaeta.  After  they 
had  buried  her,  they  found  a  grove,  where  they 
sat  down  on  the  grass  to  eat,  using  large  round 
aakes  or  biscuits  to  put  their  meat  on.  Presently 
they  came  to  eating  up  the  cakes.  Little  Ascanius 
cried  out,  "  We  are  eating  our  very  tables ;  "  and 
JEneas,  remembering  the  harpy's  words,  knew  that 
his  wanderings  were  over. 


KOMAN    SOLDIEK. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   POUNDING    OF   ROME. 
B.C.  753—713. 

VIRGIL  goes  on  to  tell  at  much  length  how 
the  king  of  the  country,  Latinus,  at  first 
made  friends  with  iEneas,  and  promised  him  his 
daughter  Lavinia  in  marriage ;  but  Turnus,  an 
Italian  chief  who  had  before  been  a  suitor  to  La- 
vinia, stirred  up  a  great  war,  and  was  only  cap- 
tured and  killed  after  much  hard  fio-htino*.  How- 
ever,  the  white  sow  was  found  in  the  right  place 
with  all  her  little  pigs,  and  on  the  spot  was  founded 
the  city  of  Alba  Longa,  where  ^neas  and  Lavinia 
reigned  until  he  died,  and  his  descendants,  through 
his  two  sons,  Ascanius  or  lulus,  and  ./Eneas  Silvius, 
reigned  after  him  for  fifteen  generations. 

The  last  of  these  fifteen  was  Amulius,  who  took 

the  throne  from  his  brother  Numitor,  who  had  a 
31 


32  Young  Folks  History  of  Rome, 

daughter  named  Rhea  Silvia,  a  Vestal  virgin. 
In  Greece,  the  sacred  fire  of  the  goddess  Vesta 
was  tended  by  good  men,  but  in  Italy  it  was  the 
charge  of  maidens,  who  were  treated  with  great 
honor,  but  were  never  allowed  to  marry  under  pain 
of  death.  So  there  was  great  anger  when  Rhea 
Silvia  became  the  mother  of  twin  boys,  and,  more- 
over, said  that  her  husband  was  the  god  Mars. 
But  Mars  did  not  save  her  from  being  buried  alive, 
while  the  two  babes  were  put  in  a  trough  on  the 
waters  of  the  river  Tiber,  there  to  perish.  The 
river  had  overflowed  its  banks,  and  left  the  chil- 
dren on  dry  ground,  where,  however,  they  were 
found  by  a  she-wolf,  who  fondled  and  fed  them 
/ike  her  own  offspring,  until  a  shepherd  met  with 
theai  and  took  them  home  to  his  wife.  She  called 
them  Romulus  and  Remus,  and  bred  them  up  as 
shepherds. 

When  the  twin  brothers  were  growing  into  man- 
hood, there  was  a  fight  between  the  shepherds  of 
Numitor  and  Amulius,  in  which  Romulus  and 
Remus  did  such  brave  feats  that  they  were  led  be- 
fore Numitor.  He  enquired  into  their  birth,  and 
their  foster-father  told  the  story  of  his  finding 
them,  showing  the  trough  in  which  they  had  been 
laid ;  and  thus  it  became  plain  that  they  were  the 


The  Founding  of  Rome.  3o 

grandsons  of  Numitor.  On  finding  this  out,  they 
collected  an  army,  with  which  they  drove  away 
Amulius,  and  brought  their  grandfather  back  to 
Alba  Longa. 

They  then  resolved  to  build  a  new  city  for  them- 
selves on  one  of  the  seven  low  hills  beneath  which 
ran  the  yellow  river  Tiber  ;  but  they  were  not 
agreed  on  which  hill  to  build,  Remus  wanting  to 
build  on  the  Aventine  Hill,  and  Romulus  on  the 
Palatine.  Their  grandfather  advised  them  to 
watch  for  omens  from  the  gods,  so  each  stood  on 
his  hill  and  watched  for  birds.  Remus  was  the 
first  to  see  six  vultures  flying,  but  Romulus  saw 
twelve,  and  therefore  the  Palatine  Hill  was  made 
the  beginning  of  the  city,  and  Romulus  was  chosen 
king.  Remus  was  affronted,  and  when  the  mud 
wall  was  being  raised  around  the  space  intended 
for  the  city,  he  leapt  over  it  and  laughed,  where- 
upon Romulus  struck  him  dead,  crying  out,  "  So 
perish  all  who  leap  over  the  walls  of  my  city." 

Romulus  traced  out  the  form  of  the  city  "with 
the  plough,  and  made  it  almost  a  square.  He 
called  the  name  of  it  Rome,  and  lived  in  the 
midst  of  it  in  a  mud  hovel,  covered  with  thatch,  in 
the  midst  of  about  fifty  families  of  the  old  Trojan 
race,  and  a  great  many  young  men,  outlaws  and 


34 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Home. 


runaways  from  the  neighboring  states,  who  had 
joined  him.  The  date  of  the  building  of  Rome 
was  supposed  to  be  a.d.  753 ;  and  the  Romans 
counted  their  years  from  it,  as  the  Greeks  did  from 
the  Olympiads,  marking  the  date  A.U.C.,  anno  urbis 
Gonditce,  the   year   of  the   city   being  built.     The 


GLA.DIATORIAL  SHOWS   AT   A    BANQUET. 


youths  who  joined  Romulus  could  not  marry,  as  no 
one  of  the  neighboring  nations  would  give  his 
daughter  to  one  of  these  robbers,  as  they  were  es- 
teemed. The  nearest  neighbors  to  Rome  were  the 
Sabines,  and  the  Romans  cast  their  eyes  in  vain  on 
the  Sabine  ladies,  till  old  Numitor  advised  Romulus 


The  Founding  of  Rome.  35 

to  proclaim  a  great  feast  in  honor  of  Neptune, 
with  games  and  dances.  All  the  people  in  the 
country  round  came  to  it,  and  when  the  re  vein 
was  at  its  height  each  of  the  unwedded  Roman;- 
seized  on  a  Sabine  maiden  and  carried  her  away  to 
his  own  house.  Six  hundred  and  eighty-three  girls 
were  thus  seized,  and  the  next  day  Romulus  mar- 
ried them  all  after  the  fashion  ever  after  observed 
in  Rome.  There  was  a  great  sacrifice,  then  each 
damsel  was  told,  "  Partake  of  your  husband's  fire 
and  water ;  "  he  gave  her  a  ring,  and  carried  her 
over  his  threshhold,  where  a  sheepskin  was  spread, 
to  show  that  her  duty  would  be  to  spin  wool  for 
him,  and  she  became  his  wife. 

Romulus  himself  won  his  own  wife,  Hersilia, 
among  the  Sabines  on  this  occasion  ;  but  the  nation 
of  course  took  up  arms,  under  their  king  Tatius,  to 
recover  their  daughters.  Romulus  drew  out  his' 
troops  into  Campus  Martins,  or  field  of  Mars,  just 
beneath  the  Capitol,  or  great  fort  on  the  Saturnian 
Hill,  and  marched  against  the  Sabines ;  but  while 
he  was  absent,  Tarpeia,  the  daughter  of  the  gover- 
nor of  the  little  fort  he  had  left  on  the  Saturnian 
Hill,  promised  to  let  the  Sabines  in  on  condition 
they  would  give  her  what  they  wore  on  their  left 
arms,  meaning  their  bracelets ;  but  they  hated  her 


3b  Young  Folks'  History  of  Borne. 

treason  even  while  they  took  advantage  of  it,  and 
no  sooner  were  they  within  the  gate  than  they 
pelted  her  with  their  heavy  shields,  which  they 
wore  on  their  left  arms,  and  killed  her.  The  cliff 
on  the  top  of  which  she  died  is  still  called  the  Tar- 
peian  rock,  and  criminals  were  executed  by  being 
thrown  from  the  top  of  it.  Romulus  tried  to  regain 
the  Capitol,  but  the  Sabines  rolled  down  stones  on 
the  Romans,  and  he  was  stunned  by  one  that  struck 
him  on  the  head ;  and  though  he  quickly  recovered 
and  rallied  his  men,  the  battle  was  going  against 
him,  when  all  the  Sabine  women,  who  had  been 
nearly  two  years  Roman  Avives,  came  rushing  out, 
with  their  little  children  in  their  arms  and  their  hair 
flying,  begging  their  fathers  and  husbands  not  to 
kill  one  another.  This  led  to  the  making  of  a 
peace,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  Sabines  and 
Romans  should  make  but  one  nation,  and  that 
Romulus  and  Tatius  should  reign  together  at  Rome. 
Romulus  lived  on  the  Palatine  Hill,  Tatius  on  the 
Tarpeian,  and  the  valley  between  was  called  the 
Forum,  and  was  the  market-place,  and  also  the  spot 
where  all  public  assemblies  were  held.  All  the 
chief  arrangements  for  war  and  government  were 
believed  by  the  Romans  to  have  been  laws  of 
Romulus.     However,  after  five  years,  Tatius  was 


The  Founding  of  Rome. 


37 


murdered  at  a  place  called  Lavinium,  in  the  middle 
of  a  sacrifice,  and  Romulus  reigned  alone  till  in  the 
middle  of  a  great  assembly  of  his  soldiers  outside 
the  city,  a  storm  of  thunder  and  lightning  came  ou, 
and  every  one  hurried  home,  but  the  king  was 
ir   ehere  to  be  found :  for,  as  some  say,  his  father 


THE    EOHi.:.!. 


Mars  had  come  down  in  the  tempest  and  carried 
him  away  to  reign  with  the  gods,  while  others  de- 
clared that  he  was  murdered  by  persons,  each  of 
whom  carried  home  a  fragment  of  his  body  that  it 
might  never  be  found.  It  matters  less  which  wa}~ 
we  tell  it,  since  the  story  of  Romulus  was  quite  as 


38  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

much  a  fable  as  that  of  iEneas ;  only  it  must  be 
remembered  as  the  Romans  themselves  believed  it. 
They  worshipped  Romulus  under  the  name  of 
Quirinus,  and  called  their  chief  families  Quirites, 
both  words  coming  from  ger  (a  spear)  ;  and  the 
she-wolf  and  twins  were  the  favorite  badge  of  the 
empire.  The  Capitoline  Hill,  the  Palatine,  and  the 
Forum  all  still  bear  the  same  names. 


CHAPTER    TV. 

NTTMA   AND   TULLT7S. 
B.C.  713—618. 

TT  was  understood  between  the  Romans  and  the 
-*-  Sabines  that  they  should  have  by  turns  a  king 
from  each  nation,  and,  on  the  disappearance  of 
Romulus,  a  Sabine  was  chosen,  named  Numa  Pom- 
pilius,  who  had  been  married  to  Tatia,  the  daughter 
of  the  Sabine  king  Tatius,  but  she  was  dead,  and 
had  left  one  daughter.  Numa  had,  ever  since  her 
death,  been  going  about  from  one  grove  or  fountain 
sacred  to  the  gods  to  another  offering  up  sacrifices, 
and  he  was  much  beloved  for  his  gentleness  and 
wisdom.  There  was  a  grove  near  Rome,  in  a  val- 
ley, where  a  fountain  gushed  forth  from  the  rock ; 
and  here  Egeria,  the  nymph  of  the  stream,  in  the 
shade  of  the  trees,  counselled  Numa  on  his  govern- 
39 


40  Young  Folks'1   History   of  Rome. 

ment,  which  was  so  wise  that  he  lived  at  peace 
with  all  his  neighbors.  When  the  Romans  doubted 
whether  it  was  really  a  goddess  who  inspired  him, 
Egeria  convinced  them,  for  the  next  time  he  had 
any  guests  in  his  house,  the  earthenware  plates 
with  homely  fare  on  them  were  changed  before 
their  eyes  into  golden  dishes  with  dainty  food. 
Moreover,  there  was  brought  from  heaven  a  bronze 
shield,  which  was  to  be  carefully  kept,  since  Rome 
would  never  fall  while  it  was  safe.  Numa  had 
eleven  other  shields  like  it  made  and  hung  in  the 
temple  of  Mars,  and,  yearly,  a  set  of  men  dedicated 
to  the  office  bore  them  through  the  city  with  songs 
and  dances.  Just  as  all  warlike  customs  were  said 
to  have  been  invented  by  Romulus,  all  peaceful  and 
religious  ones  were  held  to  have  sprung  from 
Numa  and  his  Egeria.  He  was  said  to  have  fixed 
the  calendar  and  invented  the  names  of  the  months, 
and  to  have  built  an  altar  to  Good  Faith  to  teach 
the  Romans  to  keep  their  word  to  one  another  and 
to  all  nations,  and  to  have  dedicated  the  bounds  of 
each  estate  to  the  Dii  Termini,  or  Landmark  Gods, 
in  whose  honor  there  was  a  feast  yearly.  He  also 
was  said  to  have  had  such  power  with  Jupiter  as  to 
have  persuaded  him  to  be  content  without  receiving 
sacrifices  of  men  and    women.     In   short,  all  the 


JSTtuna  and  Tullus. 


41 


better  things  in  the  Roman  system  were  supposed 
to  be  due  to  the  gentle  Numa. 

At  tbe  gate  called  Janiculum  stood  a  temple  to 
the  watchman  god,  Janus,  whose  figure  had  two 
faces,  and  held  the  keys,  and  after  whom  was 
lamed  the  month  January.  His  temple  was  al- 
ways open  in  time  of  war,  and  closed  in  time  of 
peace.  Numa's  reign  was  counted  as  the  first  out 
)f  only  three  times  in 
Roman  history  that  it 
was  shut. 

Numa  was  said  to 
\iave  reigned  thirty-eight 
years,  and  then  he  grad- 
ually faded  away,  and 
was  buried  in  a  stone 
coffin  outside  the  Janic- 
ular  gate,  all  the  books 
he  had  written  being, 
Vy   his    desire,    buried 

with  him.  Egeria  wept  till  she  became  a  fountain 
in  her  own  valley ;  and  so  ended  what  in  Roman 
faith  answered  to  the  golden  age  of  Greece. 

The  next  king  was  of  Roman  birth,  and  was 
named  Tullus  Hostilius.  He  was  a  great  warrior, 
and  had  a  war  with  the  Albans  until  it  was  agreed 


42  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

that  the  two  cities  should  join  together  in  one,  as 
the  Romans  and  Sabines  had  done  before ;  but 
there  was  a  dispute  which  should  be  the  greater 
city  in  the  league,  and  it  was  determined  to  settle 
it  by  a  combat.  In  each  city  there  was  a  family 
where  three  sons  had  been  born  at  a  birth,  and 
their  mothers  were  sisters.  Both  sets  were  of  the 
same  age  — fine  young  men,  skilled  in  weapons ; 
and  it  was  agreed  that  the  six  should  fight  together, 
the  three  whose  family  name  was  Horatius  on  the 
Roman  side,  the  three  called  Curiatius  on  the  Al- 
ban  side,  and  whichever  set  gained  the  mastery 
was  to  give  it  to  his  city. 

They  fought  in  the  plain  between  the  camps, 
and  very  hard  was  the  strife  until  two  of  the 
Hnratii  were  killed  and  all  the  three  Curiatii 
were  wounded,  but  the  last  Horatius  was  entirely 
untouched.  He  began  to  run,  and  his  cousins  pur- 
sued him,  but  at  different  distances,  as  one  was  less 
hindered  by  his  wound  than  the  others.  As  soon 
as  the  first  came  up,  Horatius  slew  him,  and  so  the 
second  and  the  third  ;  as  he  cut  down  this  last  he 
cried  out,  "  To  the  glory  of  Rome  I  sacrifice  thee." 
As  the  Alban  king  saw  his  champion  fall,  he  turned 
to  Tullus  Hostilius  and   asked  what  his  commands 


Nurna  cud  Tullus.  43 

were.  "  Only  to  have  the  Alban  youth  ready  when 
I  need  them,"  said  Tullus. 

A  wreath  was  set  on  the  victor's  head,  and,  loaded 
with  the  spoil  of  the  Curiatii,  he  was  led  into  the 
city  in  triumph.  His  sister  came  hurrying  to  meet 
him  ;  she  was  betrothed  to  one  of  the  Curiatii,  and 
was  in  agony  to  know  his  fate ;  and  when  she  saw 
the  garment  she  had  spun  for  him  hanging  blood- 
stained over  her  brother's  shoulders,  she  burst  into 
loud  lamentations.  Horatius,  still  hot  with  fury, 
struck  her  dead  on  the  spot,  crying,  "  So  perish 
every  Roman  who  mourns  the  death  of  an  enemy 
of  his  country."  Even  her  father  approved  the 
cruel  deed,  and  would  not  bury  her  in  his  family 
tomb — so  stern  were  Roman  feelings,  putting  the 
honor  of  the  country  above  everything.  How- 
ever, Horatius  was  brought  before  the  king  for  the 
murder,  and  was  sentenced  to  die ;  but  the  people 
entreated  that  their  champion  might  be  spared,  and 
he  was  only  made  to  pass  under  what  was  called 
the  yoke,  namely,  spears  set  up  like  a  doorway. 

Tullus  Hostilius  gained  several  victories  over  his 
neighbors,  but  he  was  harsh  and  presuming,  and 
offended  the  gods,  and,  when  he  was  using  some 
spell  such  as  good  Numa  had  used  to  hold  con- 
verse with  Jupiter,   the  angry  god  sent  lightning 


44  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

and  burnt  up  him  and  his  family.  The  people 
then  chose  Ancus  Martins,  the  son  of  Numa's 
daughter,  who  is  said  to  have  ruled  in  his  grand- 
father's spirit,  though  he  could  not  avoid  wars 
with  the  Latins.  The  first  bridge  over  the  Tiber, 
named  the  Sublician,  was  said  to  have  been  built 
by  him.  In  his  time  there  came  to  Rome  a  family 
called  Tarquin.  Their  father  was  a  Corinthian, 
who  had  settled  in  an  Etruscan  town  named  Tar- 
quinii,  whence  came  the  family  name.  He  was 
said  to  have  first  taught  writing  in  Italy,  and,  in- 
deed, the  Roman  letters  which  we  still  use  are 
Greek  letters  made  simpler.  His  eldest  son,  find- 
ing that  because  of  his  foreign  blood  he  could  rise 
to  no  honors  in  Etruria,  set  off  with  his  wife  Tana- 
quil,  and  their  little  son  Lucius  Tarcjuinius,  to  set- 
tle in  Rome.  Just  as  they  came  in  sight  of  Rome, 
an  eagle  swooped  down  from  the  sky,  snatched  off 
little  Tarquin's  cap,  and  flew  up  with  it,  but  the 
next  moment  came  down  again  and  put  it  back  on 
his  head.  On  this  Tanaquil  foretold  that  her  son 
would  be  a  great  king,  and  he  became  so  famous 
a  warrior  when  he  grew  up,  that,  as  the  children  of 
Ancus  were  too  young  to  reign  at  their  father's 
death,  he  was  chosen  king.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  the  first  Roman  king  who  wore  a  purple  robe 


Numa  and  Tullus. 


45 


and  golden  crown,  and  in  the  valley  between  the 
Palatine  and  Aventine  Hills  he  made  a  circus, 
where  games  could  be  held  like  those  of  the 
Greeks  ;  also  he  placed  stone  benches  and  stalls  for 
shops  round  the  Forum,  and  built  a  stone  wall  in- 
stead of  a  mud  one  round  the  city.  He  is  com- 
monly called  Tarquinus  Priscus,  or  the  elder. 


jV^-frf     %^~%^    &&ifcf 


There  was  a  fair  slave  girl  in  his  house,  who  was 
offering  cakes  to  Lar,  the  household  spirit,  when 
he  appeared  to  her  in  bodily  form.  When  she  told 
the  king's  mother,  Tanaquil,  she  said  it  was  a 
token  that  he  wanted  to  marry  her,  and  arrayed 


46  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

her  as  a  bride  for  him.  Of  this  marriage  there 
sprang  a  boy  called  Servius  Tullus.  When  this 
child  lay  asleep,  bright  flames  played  about  his 
head,  and  Tanaquil  knew  he  would  be  great,  so 
she  caused  her  son  Tarquin  to  give  him  his  daugh- 
ter in  marriage  when  he  grew  up.  This  greatly 
offended  the  two  sons  of  Ancus  Martius,  and  they 
hired  two  young  men  to  come  before  him  as  wood- 
cutters, with  axes  over  their  shoulders,  pretending 
to  have  a  quarrel  about  some  goats,  and  while  he 
was  listening  to  their  cause  they  cut  him  down  and 
mortally  wounded  him.  He  had  lost  his  sons,  and 
had  only  two  baby  grandsons,  Aruns  and  Tarquin, 
who  could  not  reign  as  }Tet ;  but  while  he  was 
dying,  Tanaquil  stood  at  the  window  and  declared 
that  he  was  only  stunned  and  would  soon  be  well. 
This,  as  she  intended,  so  frightened  the  sons  of 
Ancus  that  they  fled  from  Rome;  and  Servius 
Tullus,  coming  forth  in  the  royal  robes,  was  at  once 
hailed  as  king  by  all  the  people  of  Rome,  being 
thus  made  king  that  he  might  protect  his  wife's 
two  young  nephews,  the  two  little  Tarquins. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   DRIVING    OUT    OF    THE    TARQUINS. 
B.C.  578 — 309. 

SERVIUS  TULLUS  was  looked  on  by  the 
Romans  as  having  begun  making  their  laws, 
as  Romulus  had  put  their  warlike  affairs  in  order, 
and  Numa  had  settled  their  religion.  The  Romans 
were  all  in  great  clans  or  families,  all  with  one 
name,  and  these  were  classed  in  tribes.  The  nobler 
ones,  who  could  count  up  from  old  Trojan,  Latin, 
or  Sabine  families,  were  called  Patricians  —  from 
pater,  a  father  —  because  they  were  fathers  of  tn« 
people  ;  and  the  other  families  were  called  Plebeian, 
from  plebs,  the  people.  The  patricians  formed  th« 
Senate  or  Council  of  Government,  and  rode  on 
horseback  in  war,  while  the  plebeians  fought  on  foot,. 
They  had  spears,  round  shields,  and  short  pointed 
i  words,  which  cut  on  each  side  of  the  blade, 
47 


48  Young  Folks'1  History  of  Rome. 

Tullus  is  said  to  have  fixed  how  many  men  of  each 
tribe  should  be  called  out  to  war.  He  also  walled 
in  the  city  again  with  a  wall  five  miles  round ;  and 
he  made  many  fixed  laws,  one  being  that  when  a 
man  was  in  debt  his  goods  might  be  seized,  but  he 
himself  might  not  be  made  a  slave.  He  was  the 
great  friend  of  the  plebeians,  and  first  established 
the  rule  that  a  new  law  of  the  Senate  could  not  be 
made  without  the  consent  of  the  Comitia,  or  whole 
free  people. 

The  Sabines  and  Romans  were  still  striving  for 
the  mastery,  and  a  husbandman  among  the  Sabines 
had  a  wonderfully  beautiful  cow.  An  oracle  de- 
clared that  the  man  who  sacrificed  this  cow  to 
Diana  upon  the  Aventine  Hill  would  secure  the 
chief  power  to  his  nation.  The  Sabine  drove  the 
cow  to  Rome,  and  was  'going  to  kill  her,  when  a 
crafty  Roman  priest  told  him  that  he  must  first 
wash  his  hands  in  the  Tiber,  and  while  he  was  gone 
sacrificed  the  cow  himself,  and  by  this  trick  secured 
the  rule  to  Rome.  The  great  horns  of  the  cow 
were  long  after  shown  in  the  temple  of  Diana  on 
the  Aventine,  where  Romans,  Sabines,  and  Latins 
every  year  joined  in  a  great  sacrifice. 

The  two  daughters  of  Servius  were  married  to 
their  cousins,  the  two  young   Tarquins.     In  each 


TJie  Driving  out  of  the  Tarquins.  49 

pair  there  was    a    fierce  and    a   gentle  one.     The 
fierce  Tullia  was  the  wife  of  the  gentle  Aruns  Tar- 
quin ;    the  gentle    Tulla    had    married    the    proud 
Lucius    Tarquin.     Aruns'  wife  tried   to    persuade 
her  husband  to  seize  the  throne  that  had  belonged 
to  his  father,  and  when  he  would  not  listen  to  her, 
she  agreed  with  his   brother  Lucius  that,  while  he 
murdered  her  sister,  she  should    kill    his   brother, 
and  then  that  they  should  marry.     The  horrid  deed 
was  carried    out,  and   old   Servius,  seeing  what  a 
wicked  pair  were  likely  to   come  after   him,  began 
to  consider  with  the   Senate  whether  it  would  not 
be  better  to  have  two  consuls  or  magistrates  chosen 
every  year  than  a  king.     This  made  Lucius  Tar- 
quin the  more  furious,  and   going  to  the  Senate, 
where  the  patricians  hated  the  king  as  the  friend 
of  the  plebeians,  he  stood  upon  the  throne,  and  was 
beginning  to  tell  the  patricians  that  this  would  be 
the  ruin  of  their  greatness,  when  Servius  came  in 
and,  standing  on  the  steps  of  the  doorway,  ordered 
him   to   come    down.     Tarquin  sprang  on  the  old 
man  and  hurled  him  backward,   so    that    the  fall 
killed   him,  and   his  bod}-   was  left  in  the  street. 
The  wicked  Tullia,  wanting  to  know  how  her  hus- 
band had  sped,  came  out   in    her  chariot   on  that 
road.     The   horses  gave    back    before    the  corpse. 


50 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Home, 


She  asked  what  was  in  their  way ;  the  slave  who 
drove  her  told  her  it  was  the  king's  body.  "  Drive 
on,"  she  said.  The  horrid  deed  caused  the  street 
to  be  known  ever  after  as  "  Sceleratus,"  or  the 
wicked.     But  it  was  the  plebeians  who  mourned 


sybil's  cave. 


for  Servius ;  the  patricians  in  their  anger  made 
Tarquin  king,  but  found  him  a  very  hard  and  cruel 
master,  so  that  he  is  generally  called  Tarquinius 
Superbus,  or  Tarquin  the  proud.     In  his  time  the 


The  Driving  out  of  the    Tarquins.  51 

Sj^bil  of  Cumse,  the  same  wondrous  maiden  of  deep 
wisdom  who  had  guided  JEneas  to  the  realms  of 
Pluto,  came,  bringing  nine  books  of  prophecies  of 
the  history  of  Rome,  and  offered  them  to  him 
at  a  price  which  he  thought  too  high,  and  refused. 
She  went  away,  destroyed  three,  and  brought  back 
the  other  six,  asking  for  them  double  the  price  of 
the  whole,  He  refused.  She  burnt  three  more, 
and  brought  him  the  last  three  with  the  price  again 
doubled,  because  the  fewer  they  were,  the  more 
precious.  He  bought  them  at  last,  and  placed  them 
in  the  Capitol,  whence  they  were  now  and  then 
taken  to  be  consulted  as  oracles. 

Rome  was  at  war  with  the  city  of  Gabii,  and  as 
the  city  was  not  to  be  subdued  by  force.  Tarcjuin 
tried  treachery.  His  eldest  son,  Sextus  Tarcjuinius, 
lied  to  Gabii,  complaining  of  ill-usage  of  his  father. 
and  showing  marks  of  a  severe  scourging.  The 
Gabians  believed  him,  and  he  was  soon  so  much 
trusted  by  them -as  to  have  the  whole  command  of 
the  army  and  manage  everything  in  the  city.  Then 
he  sent  a  messenger  to  his  father  to  ask  what  he 
was  to  do  next.  Tarcjuin  was  walking  through  a 
cornfield.  He  made  no  answer  in  words,  but  with 
a  switch  cut  off  the  heads  of  all  the  poppies  and 
taller  stalks  of  corn,  and  bade  the  messeng-er  teL1 


52  Young  Folks    History  of  Rome. 

Sextus  what  he  had  seen.  Sextus  understood,  and 
contrived  to  get  all  the  chief  men  of  Gabii  exiled 
or  put  to  death,  and  without  them  the  city  fell  an 
easy  prey  to  the  Romans. 

Tarquin  sent  his  two  younger  sons  and  their 
cousin  to  consult  the  oracle  at  Delphi,  and  with 
them  went  Lucius  Junius,  who  was  called  Brutus 
because  he  was  supposed  to  be  foolish,  that  being 
the  meaning  of  the  word ;  but  his  folly  was  only 
put  on,  because  he  feared  the  jealously  of  his 
cousins.  After  doing  their  father's  errand,  the  two 
Tarquins  asked  who  should  rule  Rome  after  their 
father.  "  He,"  said  the  priestess,  "  who  shall  first 
kiss  his  mother  on  his  return."  The  two  brothers 
agreed  that  they  would  keep  this  a  secret  from  their 
elder  brother  Sextus,  and,  as  soon  as  they  reached 
home,  both  of  them  rushed  into  the  women's  rooms, 
racing  each  to  be  the  first  to  embrace  their  mother 
Tullia ;  but  at  the  very  entrance  of  Rome  Brutus 
pretended  to  slip,  threw  himself  on  the  ground  and 
kissed  his  Mother  Earth,  having  thus  guessed  the 
right  meaning  of  the  answer. 

He  waited  patiently,  however,  and  still  was 
thought  a  fool  when  the  army  went  out  to  besiege 
the  city  of  Ardea ;  and  while  the  troops  were  en- 
camped round  it,  some  of  the  young  patricians  be- 


The  Driving  out  of  the   Tarqums.  58 

gan  to  dispute  which  had  the  best  wife.  They 
agreed  to  put  it  to  the  test  by  galloping  late  in  the 
evening  to  look  in  at  their  homes  and  see  what 
their  wives  were  about.  Some  were  idling,  some 
were  visiting,  some  were  scolding,  some  were  dress- 
ing, some  were  asleep ;  but  at  Collatia,  the  farm  of 
another  of  the  Tarquin  family,  thence  called  Col- 
latinus,  they  found  his  beautiful  wife  Lucretia 
among  her  maidens  spinning  the  wool  of  the  flocks. 
All  agreed  that  she  was  the  best  of  wives  ;  but  the 
wicked  Sextus  Tarquin  only  wanted  to  steal  her 
from  her  husband,  and  going  by  night  to  Collatia, 
tried  to  make  her  desert  her  lord,  and  when  she 
would  not  listen  to  him  he  ill-treated  her  cruelly, 
and  told  her  that  he  should  accuse  her  to  her  hus- 
band. She  was  so  overwhelmed  with  grief  and 
shame  that  in  the  morning  she  sent  for  her  father 
and  husband,  told  them  all  that  that  happened,  and 
saying  that  she  could  not  bear  life  after  being  so  put 
to  shame,  she  drew  out  a  dagger  and  stabbed  her- 
self before  their  eyes  —  thinking,  as  all  these  hea- 
then Romans  did,  that  it  was  better  to  die  by  one's 
own  hand  than  to  live  in  disgrace. 

Lucius  Brutus  had  gone  to  Collatia  with  his 
cousin,  and  while  Collatinus  and  his  father-in-law 
stood  horror-struck,  he  called   to  them  to  revenge 


54  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

this  crime.  Snatchiug  the  dagger  from  Lucretia's 
breast,  he  galloped  to  Rome,  called  the  people  to- 
gether in  the  Forum,  and,  holding  up  the  bloody 
weapon  in  his  hand,  he  made  them  a  speech,  asking 
whether  they  would  any  longer  endure  such  a  family 
of  tyrants.  They  all  rose  as  one  man,  and  choosing 
Brutus  himself  and  Collatinus  to  be  their  leaders, 
as  the  consuls  whom  Servius  Tullus  had  thought  of 
making,  they  shut  the  gates  of  Rome,  and  would 
not  open  them  when  Tarquin  and  his  sons  would 
have  returned.     So  ended  the  kingdom  of  Home. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE    WAR    WITH    PORSENA. 

I  T^ROM  the  time  of  the  flight  of  the  Tarquins, 
■*■  Rome  was  governed  by  two  consuls,  who 
wore  all  the  tokens  of  royalty  except  the  crown. 
Tarquin  fled  into  Etruria,  whence  his  grandfather 
had  come,  and  thence  tried  to  obtain  admission  into 
Rome.  The  two  young  sons  of  Brutus  and  the 
nephews  of  Collatinus  were  drawn  into  a  plot  for 
bringing  them  back  again,  and  on  its  discovery 
were  brought  before  the  two  consuls.  Their  guilt 
was  proved,  and  their  father  sternly  asked  what 
they  had  to  say  in  their  defence.  They  only  wept, 
and  so  did  Collatinus  and  many  of  the  senators, 
crying  out,  "  Banish  them,  banish  them."  Brutus, 
however,  as  if  unmoved,  bade  the  executioners  do 
their  office.  The  whole  Senate  shrieked  to  hear  a 
father  thus  condemn  his  own  children,  but  he  was 
55 


56  Young  Folks   History  of  Rome. 

resolute,  and  actually  looked  on  while  the  young 
men  were  first  scourged  and  then  beheaded. 

Collatinus  put  off  the  further  judgment  in  hopes 
to  save  his  nephews,  and  Brutus  told  them  that  he 
had  put  them  to  death  by  his  own  power  as  a  father, 
but  that  he  left  the  rest  to  the  voice  of  the  people, 
and  they  were  sent  into  banishment.  Even  Col- 
latinus was  thought  to  have  acted  weakly,  and  was 
sent  into  exile  —  so  determined  were  the  Romans 
to  have  no  one  among  them  who  would  not  uphold 
their  decrees  to  the  utmost.  Tarquin  advanced  to 
the  walls  and  cut  down  all  the  growing  corn  around 
the  Campus  Martius  and  threw  it  into  the  Tiber  ; 
there  it  formed  a  heap  round  which  an  island  was 
afterwards  formed.  Brutus  himself  and  his  cousin 
Aruns  Tarquin  soon  after  killed  one  another  in 
single  combat  in  a  battle  outside  the  walls,  and  all 
the  women  of  Rome  mourned  for  him  as  for  a 
father. 

Tarquin  found  a  friend  in  the  Etruscan  king 
called  Lars  Porsena,  who  brought  an  army  to  be- 
siege Rome  and  restore  him  to  the  throne.  He 
advanced  towards  the  gate  called  Janiculum  upon 
the  Tiber,  and  drove  the  Romans  out  of  the  fort  on 
the  other  side  the  river.  The  Romans  then  re- 
treated across  the   bridge,  placing  three   men   to 


BHUTl'S    CONDEMNING    HIS    SONS 


The    War  with  Porsena.  59 

guard  it  until  all  should  be  gone  over  and  it  oould 
be  broken  down. 

There  stood  the  brave  three  —  Horatius,  Lartius, 
and  Herminius  — guarding  the  bridge  while  their 
fellow-citizens  were  fleeing  across  it,  three  men 
against  a  whole  army.  At  last  the  weapons  of 
Lartius  and  Herminius  were  broken  down,  and 
Horatius  bade  them  hasten  over  the  bridge  while 
it  could  still  bear  their  weight.  He  himself  fought 
on  till  he  was  wounded  in  the  thigh,  and  the  last 
timbers  of  the  bridge  were  falling  into  the  stream. 
Then  spreading  out  his  arms,  he  called  upon  Father 
Tiber  to  receive  him,  leapt  into  the  river  and  swam 
across  amid  a  shower  of  arrows,  one  of  which  put 
out  his  eye,  and  he  was  lame  for  life.  A  statue  of 
him  "halting  on  his  thigh  "  was  set  up  in  the  tem- 
ple of  Vulcan,  and  he  was  rewarded  with  as  much 
land  as  one  yoke  of  o?:en  could  plough  in  a  day, 
and  the  300,000  citizens  of  Rome  each  gave  him  a 
day's  provision  of  corn. 

Porsena  then  blockaded  the  city,  and  when  the 
Romans  were  nearly  starving  he  sent  them  word 
that  he  would  give  them  food  if  they  would  receive 
their  old  masters ;  but  they  made  answer  that 
hunger  was  better  than  slavery,  and  still  held  out. 
In  the  midst  of  their  distress,  a  young  man  named 


60  Young  Folks'  HisP-ry  of  Romp-. 

Cams  Mucius  came  and  begged  leave  of  the  con- 
suls to  cross  the  Tiber  and  go  to  attempt  something 
to  deliver  his  country.  They  gave  leave,  and 
creeping  through  the  Etruscan  camp  he  came  into 
the  king's  tent  just  as  Porsena  was  watching  his 
troops  pass  by  in  full  order.  One  of  his  counsellors 
was  sitting  beside  him  so  richly  dressed  that  Mucius 
did  not  know  which  was  king,  and  leaping  towards 
them,  he  stabbed  the  counsellor  to  the  heart.  He 
was  seized  at  once  and  dragged  before  the  king, 
who  fiercely  asked  who  he  was,  and  what  he  meant 
by  such  a  crime. 

The  young  man  answered  that  his  name  was  Caius 
Mucius,  and  that  he  was  ready  to  do  and  dare  any- 
thing for  Rome.  In  answer  to  threats  of  torture, 
he  quietly  stretched  out  his  right  hand  and  thrust 
it  into  the  flame  that  burnt  in  a  brazier  close  by, 
holding  it  there  without  a  sign  of  pain,  while  he 
bade  Porsena  see  what  a  Roman  thought  of  suffering. 

Porsena  was  so  struck  that  he  at  once  gave  the 
daring  man  his  life,  his  freedom,  and  even  his  dag- 
ger ;  and  Mucius  then  told  him  that  three  hundred 
youths  like  himself  had  sworn  to  have  his  life  un- 
less he  left  Rome  to  her  liberty.  This  was  false, 
but  both  the  lie  and  the  murder  were  for  Rome's 
sake  ;  they  were  both  admired  by  the  Romans,  who 


The  War  with  Porsena.  61 

held  that  the  welfare  of  their  city  was  their  very 
first  duty.  Mucins  could  never  use  his  right  hand 
again,  and  was  always  called  Scsevola,  or  the  Left- 
handed,  a  name  that  went  on  to  his  family. 

Porsena  believed  the  story,  and  began  to  make 
peace.  A  truce  was  agreed  on,  and  ten  Roman 
youths  and  as  many  girls  were  given  up  to  the 
Etruscans  as  hostages.  While  the  conferences 
were  going  on,  one  of  the  Roman  girls  named 
Clelia  forgot  her  duty  so  much  as  to  swim  home 
across  the  river  with  all  her  companions  ;  but  Val- 
eria, the  consul's  daughter,  was  received  with  all 
the  anger  that  breach  of  trust  deserved,  and  her 
father  mounted  his  horse  at  once  to  take  the  party 
back  again.  Just  as  they  reached  the  Etruscan 
camp,  the  Tarquin  father  and  brothers,  and  a  whole 
troop  of  the  enemy,  fell  on  them.  While  the  con- 
sul was  fighting  against  a  terrible  force,  Valeria 
dashed  on  into  the  camp  and  called  out  Porsena 
and  his  son.  They,  much  grieved  that  the  truce 
should  have  been  broken,  drove  back  their  own 
men,  and  were  so  angry  with  the  Tarquins  as  to 
give  up  their  cause.  He  asked  which  of  the  girls 
had  contrived  the  escape,  and  when  Clelia  confessed 
it  was  herself,  he  made  her  a  present  of  a  fine  horse 
and  its  trappings,  which  she  little  deserved. 


62  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

This  Valerius  was  called  Publicola,  or  the  peo- 
ple's friend.  He  died  a  year  or  two  later,  after  so 
many  victories  that  the  Romans  honored  him 
among  their  greatest  heroes.  Tarquin  still  contin- 
ued to  seek  support  among  the  different  Italian 
nations,  and  again  attacked  the  Romans  with  the 
help  of  the  Latins.  The  chief  battle  was  fought 
close  to  Lake  Regillus  ;  Aulus  Posthumius  was  the 
commander,  but  Marcus  Valerius,  brother  to  Pub- 
licola, was  general  of  the  horse.  He  had  vowed  to 
build  a  temple  to  Castor  and  Pollux  if  the  Romans 
gained  the  victory ;  and  in  the  beginning  of  the 
fight,  two  glorious  youths  of  god-like  stature  ap- 
peared on  horseback  at  the  head  of  the  Roman 
horse  and  fought  for  them.  It  was  a  very  hard- 
fought  battle.  Valerius  was  killed,  but  so  was 
Titus  Tarquin,  and  the  Latin  force  was  entirely 
broken  and  routed.  That  same  evening  the  two 
youths  rode  into  the  Forum,  their  horses  dripping 
with  sweat  and  their  weapons  bloody.  They  drew 
up  and  washed  themselves  at  a  fountain  near  the 
temple  of  Vesta,  and  as  the  people  crowded  round 
they  told  of  the  great  victory,  and  while  one  man 
named  Domitius  doubted  of  it,  since  the  Lake 
Regillus  was  too  far  off  for  tidings  to  have  come  so 
fast,  one  of  them  laid  his  hand   on  the  doubter's 


ROMAN    ENSIGNS.   STANDARDS.    TRUMPETS.    ETC- 


The    War  with  Porsena.  65 

beard  and  changed  it  in  a  moment  from  black  to 
copper  color,  so  that  he  came  to  be  called  Domitius 
Ahenobarbus,  or  Brazen-beard.  Then  they  disap- 
peared, and  the  next  morning  Posthumius'  mes- 
senger brought  the  news.  The  Romans  had  no 
doubt  that  these  were  indeed  the  glorious  twins, 
and  built  their  temple,  as  Valerius  had  vowed. 

Tarquin  had  lost  all  his  sons,  and  died  in  wretch- 
ed exile  at  Cunise.  And  here  ends  what  is  looked 
on  as  the  legendary  history  of  Rome,  for  though 
most  of  these  stories  have  dates,  and  some  sound 
possible,  there  is  so  much  that  is  plainly  untrue 
mixed  up  with  them,  that  they  can  only  be  looked 
on  as  the  old  stories  which  were  handed  down  to 
account  for  the  Roman  customs  and  copied  by  their 
historians. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    ROMAN    GOVERNMENT. 

^^O  far  as  true  history  can  guess,  the  Romans 
v— '  r°ally  did  have  kings  and  drove  them  out, 
but  there  are  signs  that,  though  Porsena  was  a  real 
king,  the  war  was  not  so  honorable  to  the  Romans 
as  they  said,  for  he  took  the  city  and  made  them 
give  up  all  their  weapons  to  him,  leaving  them 
nothing  but  their  tools  for  husbandry.  But  they 
liked  to  forget  their  misfortunes. 

The  older  Roman  families  were  called  patricians, 
or  fathers,  and  thought  all  rights  to  govern  belonged 
to  them.  Settlers  who  came  in  later  were  called 
plebeians,  or  the  people,  and  at  first  had  no  rights 
at  all,  for  all  the  land  belonged  to  the  patricians, 
and  the  only  way  for  the  plebeians  to  get  anything 

done  for  them  was  to  become  hangers-on  —  or,  as 

6fi 


The  Roman   Government.  67 

they  called  it,  clients  —  of  some  patrician  who  took 
care  of  their  interests.  There  was  a  council  of  pa- 
tricians called  the  Senate,  chosen  among  themselves, 
and  also  containing  by  right  all  who  had  been  chief 
magistrates.  The  whole  assembly  of  the  patricians 
was  called  the  Comitia.  They,  as  has  been  said 
before,  fought  on  horseback,  while  the  plebeians 
fought  on  foot ;  but  out  of  the  rich  plebeians  a 
body  was  formed  called  the  knights,  who  also  used 
horses,  and  wore  gold  rings  like  the  patricians. 

But  the  plebeians  were  always  trying  not  to  be 
left  out  of  everything.  By  and  by,  they  said  under 
Servius  Tullius,  the  city  was  divided  into  six  quar- 
ters, and  all  the  families  living  in  them  into  six 
tribes,  each  of  which  had  a  tribune  to  watch  over  it, 
bring  up  the  number  of  its  men,  and  lead  them  to 
battle.  Another  division  of  the  citizens,  both  pa- 
trician and  plebeian,  was  made  every  five  years. 
They  were  all  counted  and  numbered  and  divided 
off  into  centuries  according  to  their  wealth.  Then 
these  centuries,  or  hundreds,  had  votes,  by  the 
persons  they  chose,  when  it  was  a  question  of  peace 
or  war.  Their  meeting  was  called  the  Comitia; 
but  as  there  were  more  patrician  centuries  than 
plebeian  ones,  the  patricians  still  had  much  more 
power.     Besides,  the  Senate  and  all  the  magistrates 


68  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

were  in  those  days  always  patricians.  These  magis- 
trates were  chosen  every  year.  There  were  two 
consuls,  who  were  like  kings  for  the  time,  only  that 
they  wore  no  crowns ;  they  had  purple  robes,  and 
sat  in  chairs  ornamented  with  ivory,  and  they  were 
.ilways  attended  by  lictors,  who  carried  bundles  ol 


HEAD   OF    JUl'ITEB. 


rods  tied  round  an  axe  —  the  first  for  scourging, 
the  second  for  beheading.  There  were  under  them 
two  praetors,  or  judges,  who  tried  offences ;  two 
quaestors,  who  attended  to  the  public  buildings ; 
and  two  censors,  who  had  to  look  after  the  num- 
bering and  registering  of  the  people  in  their  tribes 
and  centuries.     The  consuls  in  general  commanded 


The  Roman   Government.  69 

the  army,  but  sometimes,  when  there  was  a  great 
need,  one  single  leader  was  chosen  and  was  called  dic- 
tator. Sometimes  a  dictator  was  chosen  merely  to 
fulfil  an  omen,  by  driving  a  nail  into  the  head  of  the 
great  statue  of  Jupiter  in  the  Capitol.  Besides 
these,  all  the  priests  had  to  be  patricians  ;  the  chief 
of  all  was  called  Pontifex  Maximus.  Some  say 
this  was  because  he  was  the  fa.v  (maker)  of  pontes 
(bridges),  as  he  blessed  them  and  decided  by 
omens  where  they  should  be  ;  but  others  think  the 
word  was  Pompifex,  and  that  he  was  the  maker  of 
pomps  or  ceremonies.  There  were  man}T  priests  as 
well  as  augurs,  who  had  to  draw  omens  from  the 
flight  of  birds  or  the  appearance  of  sacrifices,  and 
who  kept  the  account  of  the  calendar  of  lucky  and 
unlucky  days,  and  of  festivals. 

The  Romans  were  a  grave  religious  people  in 
those  days,  and  did  not  count  their  lives  or  their 
affections  dear  in  comparison  with  their  duties  to 
their  altars  and  their  hearths,  though  their  notions 
of  duty  do  not  always  agree  with  ours.  Their 
dress  in  the  city  was  a  white  woollen  garment 
edged  with  purple  —  it  must  have  been  more  like 
in  shape  to  a  Scottish  plaid  than  anything  else  — 
and  was  wrapped  round  so  as  to  leave  one  arm  free  ; 
sometimes  a  fold  was  drawn  over  the  head.     No 


70  Young  Folks    History  of  Rome. 

one  might  wear  it  but  a  free-born  Roman,  and  ho 
never  went  out  on  public  business  without  it,  even 
when  more  convenient  fashions  had  been  copied 
from  Greece.  Those  who  were  asking  votes  for  a 
public  office  wore  it  white  (candidus),  and  there- 
fore  were    called   candidates.     The  consuls  had  it 


FEMALE   COSTUMES. 


on  great  days  entirely  purple  and  embroidered,  and 
all  senators  and  ex-magistrates  had  broader  borders 
of  purple.  The  ladies  wore  a  long  graceful  wrap- 
ping-gown ;  the  boys  a  short  tunic,  and  round  their 


The  Roman  Grovernment.  71 

necks  was  hung  a  hollow  golden  ball  called  a  bulla, 
or  bubble.  When  a  boy  was  seventeen,  there  was 
a  great  family  sacrifice  to  the  Lares  and  the  fore- 
fathers, his  bulla  was  taken  off,  the  toga  was  put 
on,  and  he  was  enrolled  by  his  own  prsenomen, 
Caius  or  Lucius,  or  whatever  it  might  be,  for  there 


FEMALE    COSTUMES. 


was  only  a  choice  of  fifteen.  After  this  he  was 
liable  to  be  called  out  to  fight.  A  certain  number 
of  men  were  chosen  from  each  tribe  by  the  tribune. 
It  was  divided  into  centuries,  each  led  by  a  cen- 
turion ;  and  the  whole  body  together  was  called  a 


72  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

legion,  from  lego,  to  choose.  In  later  times  the 
proper  number  for  a  legion  was  6000  men.  Each 
legion  had  a  standard,  a  bar  across  the  top  of  the 
spear,  with  the  letters  on  it  S  P  Q  R  —  Senatus, 
Populus  Que  Romanus  —  meaning  the  Roman 
Senate  and  People,  a  purple  flag  below  and  a  figure 
above,  such  as  an  eagle,  or  the  wolf  and  twins,  or 
some  emblem  dear  to  the  Romans.  The  legions 
were  on  foot,  but  the  troops  of  patricians  and 
knights  on  horseback  were  attached  to  them  and 
had  to  protect  them. 

The  Romans  had  in  those  days  very  small  riches, 
they  held  in  general  small  farms  in  the  country, 
which  they  worked  themselves  with  the  help  of 
their  sons  and  slaves.  The  plebeians  were  often 
the  richest.  They  too  held  farms  leased  to  them 
by  the  state,  and  had  often  small  shops  in  Rome. 
The  whole  territory  was  so  small  that  it  was  easy 
to  come  into  Rome  to  worship,  attend  the  Senate, 
or  vote,  and  many  had  no  houses  in  the  city.  Each 
man  was  married  with  a  ring  and  sacrifice,  and  the 
lady  was  then  carried  over  the  threshold,  on  which 
a  sheepskin  was  spread,  and  made  mistress  of  the 
house  by  being  bidden  to  be  Caia  to  Caius.  The 
Roman  matrons  were  good  and  noble  women  in 
those  days,  and  the  highest  praise  of  them  was  held 


The  Roman   Government. 


73 


to  be  i-hmum  mansit,  lanam  fecit  —  she  stayed  at 
home  and  spun  wool.  Each  man  was  absolute 
mastei.'  in  his  own  house,  and  had  full  power  over 
his  gr:>wn-up  sons,  even  for  life  or  death,  and  they 
almos  t  always  submitted  entirely.  For  what  made 
the  E  omans  so  great  was  that  they  were  not  only 
brave ,  but  they  were  perfectly  obedient,  and 
obey  d  as  perfectly  as  they  could  their  fathers, 
their  )fficers,  their  magistrates,  and,  as  the}'  thought, 
thai?   gods. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

MENENIUS    AGMPPA's    FABLE. 
B.C.  494. 

A  GREAT  deal  of  the  history  of  Rome  consists 
of  struggles  between  the  patricians  and 
plebeians.  In  those  early  days  the  plebeians  were 
often  poor,  and  when  they  wanted  to  improve  their 
lands  they  had  to  borrow  money  from  the  patricians, 
who  not  only  had  larger  lands,  but,  as  they  were 
the  officers  in  war,  got  a  larger  share  of  the  spoil. 
The  Roman  law  was  hard  on  a  man  in  debt.  His 
lands  might  be  seized,  he  might  be  thrown  into 
prison  or  sold  into  slavery  with  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, or,  if  the  creditors  liked,  be  cut  to  pieces  so 
that  each  might  take  his  share. 

One  of  these  debtors,  a  man  who  was  famous  for 
bravery  as  a  centurion,  broke  out  of  his  prison  and 


Menenius  Agrippa's  Fable.  75 

ran  into  the  Forum,  all  in  rags  and  with  chains  still 
hanging  to  his  hands  and  feet,  showing  them  to  his 
fellow-citizens,  and  asking  if  this  was  just  usage  of 
a  man  who  had  done  no  crime.  They  were  very 
angry,  and  the  more  because  one  of  the  consuls, 
A ppius  Claudius,  was  known  to  be  very  harsh,  proud 
and  cruel,  as  indeed  were  all  his  family.  The  Vols- 
cians,  a  tribe  often  at  war  with  them,  broke  into 
their  land  at  the  same  time,  and  the  Romans  were 
called  to  arms,  but  the  plebians  refused  to  march 
until  their  wrongs  were  redressed.  On  this  the 
other  consul,  Servilius,  promised  that  a  law  should 
be  made  against  keeping  citizens  in  prison  for  debt 
or  making  slaves  of  their  children  ;  and  thereupon 
the  army  assembled,  marched  against  the  enemy, 
and  defeated  them,  giving  up  all  the  spoil  to  his 
troops.  But  the  senate,  when  the  danger  was  over, 
would  not  keep  its  promises,  and  even  appointed  a 
Dictator  to  put  the  plebians  down.  Thereupon 
they  assembled  outside  the  walls  in  a  strong  force, 
and  were  going  to  attack  the  patricians,  when  the 
wise  old  Menenius  Agrippa  was  sent  out  to  try  to 
pacify  them.  He  told  them  a  fable,  namely,  that 
once  upon  a  time  all  the  limbs  of  a  man's  body  be- 
came disgusted  with  the  service  they  had  to  render 
to  the  belly.     The  feet  and  legs  carried  it  about, 


76  Young  Folks    History  of  Rome. 

the  hands  worked  for  it  and  carried  food  to  it, 
the  mouth  ate  for  it,  and  so  on.  They  thought 
it  hard  thus  all  to  toil  for  it,  and  agreed  to  do 
nothing  for  it  —  neither  to  carry  it  about,  clothe  it, 
nor  feed  it.  But  soon  all  found  themselves  grow- 
ing weak  and  starved,  and  were  obliged  to  own 
that  all  would  perish  together  unless  they  went  on 
waiting  on  this  seemingly  useless  bell}*.  So  Agripp,i 
told  them  that  all  ranks  and  states  depended  on 
one  another,  and  unless  all  worked  together  all 
must  be  confusion  and  go  to  decay.  The  fable 
seems  to  have  convinced  both  rich  and  poor ;  the 
debtors  were  set  free  and  the  debts  forgiven.  And 
though  the  laws  about  debts  do  not  seem  to  have 
been  changed,  another  laAv  was  made  which  gave 
the  plebeians  tribunes  in  peace  as  well  as  war. 
These  tribunes  were  always  to  be  plebeians,  chosen 
by  their  own  fellows.  No  one  was  allowed  to  hurt 
them  during  their  year  of  office,  on  pain  of  being 
declared  accursed  and  losing  his  property ;  and 
they  had  the  power  of  stopping  any  decision  of  the 
senate  by  saying  solemnly,  Veto,  I  forbid.  They 
were  called  tribunes  of  the  people,  while  the  offi- 
cers in  war  were  called  military  tribunes  ;  and  as  it 
was  on  the  Mons  Sacer,  or  Sacred  Mount,  that  this 
was  settled,  these  laws  were  called  the  Leges  Sacra- 


Menenius  Agrippas 's  Fable.  77 

rice.  An  altar  to  •  the  Thundering  Jupiter  was 
built  to  consecrate  them  ;  and,  in  gratitude  for  his 
management,  Menenius  Agrippa  was  highly  honored 
all  his  life,  and  at  his  death  had  a  public  funeral. 

But  the  struggles  of  the  plebeians  against  the 
patricians  were  not  by  any  means  over.  The  Roman 
land  —  Agri  (acre),  it  was  called — had  at  first 
been  divided  in  equal  shares  —  at  least  so  it  was 
said  —  but  as  belonging-  to  the  state  all  the  time, 
and  only  held  by  the  occupier.  As  time  went  on, 
some  persons  of  course  gathered  more  into  their 
own  hands,  and  others  of  spendthrift  or  unfortunate 
families  became  destitute.  Then  there  was  an  out- 
cry that,  as  the  lands  belonged  to  the  whole  state, 
it  ought  to  take  them  all  back  and  divide  them 
again  more  equally  :  but  the  patricians  naturally 
regarded  themselves  as  the  owners,  and  would 
not  hear  of  this  scheme,  which  we  shall  hear  of 
again  and  again  by  the  name  of  the  Agrarian 
Law.  One  of  the  patricians,  who  had  thrice 
been  consul,  by  name  Spurius  Cassius,  did  all 
he  could  to  bring  it  about,  but  though  the  law 
was  passed  he  could  not  succeed  in  getting  it  car- 
ried out.  The  patricians  hated  him,  and  a  report 
got  abroad  that  he  was  only  gaining  favor  with  the 
people  in  order  to   get  himself  made   king.     This 


78  Young  Folks'  History  of  Home. 

made  even  the  plebeians  turn  against  him  as  a 
traitor ;  he  was  condemned  by  the  whole  assembly 
of  the  people,  and  beheaded,  after  being  scourged 
by  the  lictors.  The  people  soon  mourned  for  their 
friend,  and  felt  that  they  had  been  deceived  in 
giving  him  up  to  their  enemies.  The  senate  would 
not  execute  his  law,  and  the  plebeians  would  not 
enlist  in  the  next  war,  though  the  senate  threat- 
ened to  cut  down  the  fruit  trees  and  destroy  the 
crops  of  every  man  who  refused  to  join  the  army. 
When  they  were  absolutely  driven  into  the  ranks, 
they  even  refused  to  draw  their  swords  in  face  of 
the  enemy,  and  would  not  gain  a  victory  lest  their 
consul  should  have  the  honor  of  it. 

This  consul's  name  was  Kseso  Fabius.  He  be- 
longed to  a  very  clever,  wary  family,  whose  name 
it  was  said  was  originally  Foveus  (ditch),  because 
they  had  first  devised  a  plan  of  snaring  wolves  in 
pits  or  ditches.  They  were  thought  such  excellent 
defenders  of  the  claims  of  the  patricians  that  for 
seven  years  following  one  or  other  of  the  Fabii  was . 
chosen  consul.  But  by-and-by  they  began  either  to 
see  that  the  plebeians  had  rights,  or  that  they  should 
do  best  by  siding  with  them,  for  they  went  over  to 
them  ;  and  when  Kseso  next  was  consul  he  did  all 
he  could  to  get  the  laws  of  Cassius  carried  out,  but 


Menenius  Agrippa's  Fable. 


81 


the  senate  were  furious  with  him,  and  lie  found  it 
was  not  safe  to  stay  in  Rome  when  his  consulate 
was  over.  So  he  resolved  at  any  rate  to  do  good 
to  his  country.  The  Etruscans  often  came  over 
the  border  and  ravaged  the  country;  but  there 
was  a  watch-tower  on  the  banks  of  the  little  river 
Cremera,  which  flows   into   the  Tiber,  and  Fabius 


~  IBW  OF  A  ROMAN  HARBOR. 

offered,  with  all  the  men  of  his  name  —  806  in 
number,  and  4000  clients  —  to  keep  guard  there 
against  the  enemy.  For  some  time  they  prospered 
there,  and  gained  much  spoil  from  the  Etruscans ; 
but  at  last  the  whole   Etruscan  army  came  against 


82  Young  Folks''   History   of  Rome. 

them,  showing  only  a  small  number  at  first  to 
tempt  them  out  to  fight,  then  falling  on  them  with 
the  whole  force  and  killing  the  whole  of  them,  so 
that  of  the  whole  name  there  remained  only  one 
boy  of  fourteen  who  had  been  left  behind  at  Rome. 
And  what  was  worse,  the  consul,  Titus  Menenius, 
was  so  near  the  army  that  he  could  have  saved  the 
Fabii,  but  for  the  hatred  the  patricians  bore  them 
as  deserters  from  their  cause. 

However,  the  tribune  Publilius  gained  for  the 
plebeians  that  there  should  be  five  tribunes  instead 
of  two,  and  made  a  change  in  the  manner  of  elect- 
ing them  which  prevented  the  patricians  from  in- 
terfering. Also  it  was  decreed  that  to  interrupt  a 
tribune  in  a  public  speech  deserved  death.  But 
whenever  an  Appius  Claudius  was  consul  he  took 
his  revenge,  and  was  cruelly  severe,  especially  in 
the  camp,  where  the  consul  as  general  had  much 
more  power  than  in  Home.  Again  the  angry  ple- 
beians would  not  fight,  but  threw  down  their  arms 
in  sight  of  the  enemy.  Claudius  scourged  and  be- 
headed ;  they  endured  grimly  and  silently,  know- 
ing that  when  he  returned  to  Home  and  his  con- 
sulate was  over  their  tribunes  would  call  him  to 
account.  And  so  they  did,  and  before  all  the 
tribes  of  Rome  summoned  him  to  answer  for  his 


Menenius  Agrippds  Fable.  83 

savage  treatment  of  free  Roman  citizens.  He  made 
a  violent  answer,  but  he  saw  how  it  would  go  with 
him,  and  put  himself  to  death  to  avoid  the  sen- 
tence. So  were  the  Romans  proving  again  and 
again  the  truth  of  Agrippa's  parable,  that  nothing- 
can  go  well  with  body  or  members  unless  each  will 
be  ready  to  serve  the  other. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

CORIOLANUS   AND    CINCmNATTTS. 
B.  c.  458. 

7V  LL  the  time  these  struggles  were  going  on 
"*-  *~  between  the  patricians  and  the  plebeians  at 
home,  there  were  wars  with  the  neighboring  tribes, 
the  Volscians,  the  Veians,  the  Latins,  and  the 
Etruscans.  Every  spring  the  fighting  men  went 
out,  attacked  their  neighbors,  drove  off  their  cattle, 
and  tried  to  take  some  town  ;  then  fought  a  battle, 
and  went  home  to  reap  the  harvest,  gather  the 
grapes  and  olives  in  the  autumn,  and  attend  to 
public  business  and  vote  for  the  magistrates  in  the 
winter.  They  were  small  wars,  but  famous  men 
fought  in  them.  In  a  war  against  the  Volscians, 
when  Cominius  was  consul,  he  was  besieging  a  city 
called  Corioli,  when  news  came  that  the  men  of 
Antium  were  marching  against  him,  and  in  their 
84 


Coriolanus  and   Qindnnatus.  85 

first  attack  on  the  wails  the  Romans  were  beaten 
off,  but  a  gallant  young  patrician,  descended  from 
the  king  Ancus  Marcius,  Caius  Marcius  by  name, 
rallied  them  and  led  them  back  with  such  spirit 
that  the  place  was  taken  before  the  hostile  army 
came  up ;  then  he  fought  among  the  foremost  and 
gained  the  victory.  When  he  was  brought  to  the 
consul's  tent  covered  with  wounds,  Cominius  did 
all  he  could  to  show  his  gratitude  —  set  on  the 
young  man's  head  the  crown  of  victory,  gave  him 
the  surname  of  Coriolanus  in  honor  of  his  exploits, 
and  granted  him  the  tenth  part  of  the  spoil  of  ten 
prisoners.  Of  them,  however,  Coriolanus  only  ac- 
cepted one,  an  old  friend  of  the  family,  whom  he 
set  at  liberty  at  once.  Afterwards,  when  there  was 
a  great  famine  in  Rome,  Coriolanus  led  an  expedi- 
tion to  Antium,  and  brought  away  quantities  of 
corn  and  cattle,  which  he  distributed  freely,  keep- 
ing none  for  himself. 

But  though  he  was  so  free  of  hand,  Coriolanus 
was  a  proud,  shy  man,  who  would  not  make  friends 
with  the  plebeians,  and  whom  the  tribunes  hated 
as  much  as  he  despised  them.  He  was  elected  con- 
sul, and  the  tribunes  refused  to  permit  him  to  be- 
come one ;  and  when  a  shipload  of  wheat  arrived 
from  Sicily,  there  was  a  fierce  quarrel  as  to  how  it 


86  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

should  be  distributed.  The  tribunes  impeached 
him  before  the  people  for  withholding  it  from  them, 
and  by  the  vote  of  a  large  number  of  citizens  he 
was  banished  from  Roman  lands.  His  anger  was 
great,  but  quiet.  He  went  without  a  word  away 
from  the  Forum  to  his  house,  where  he  took  leave 
of  his  mother  Veturia,  his  wife  Volumnia,  and  his 
little  children,  and  then  went  and  placed  himself 
by  the  hearth  of  Tnllus  the  Yolscian  chief,  in 
whose  army  he  meant  to  fight  to  revenge  himself 
upon  his  countrymen. 

Together  they  advanced  upon  the  Roman  terri- 
tory, and  after  ravaging  the  country  threatened  to 
besiege  Rome.  Men  of  rank  came  out  and  entreat- 
ed him  to  give  up  this  wicked  and  cruel  vengeance, 
and  to  have  pity  on  his  friends  and  native  city ; 
but  he  answered  that  the  Volscians  were  now  his 
nation,  and  nothing  would  move  him.  At  last, 
however,  all  the  women  of  Rome  came  forth, 
headed  by  his  mother  Veturia  and  his  wife  Volum- 
nia, each  with  a  little  child,  and  Veturia  entreated 
and  commanded  her  son  in  the  most  touching  man- 
ner to  change  his  purpose  and  cease  to  ruin  his 
country,  begging  him,  if  he  meant  to  destroy  Rome, 
to  begin  by  slaying  her.  She  threw  herself  at  his 
feet  as  she  spoke,  and  his  hard  spirit  gave  wr  v-, 


Coriolanus  and   Citicinnatus.  8? 

"Ah  !  mother,  what  is  it  you  do?  "  he  cried  as  he 
lifted  her  up.  "  Thou  hast  saved  Rome,  but  lost 
thy  son.'' 

And  so  it  proved,  for  when  he  had  broken  up 
his  camp  and  returned  to  the  Volscian  territory  till 
the  senate    should   recall   him    as   they   proceded, 


ROMAN    CA^'P. 


Tullus,  angry  and  disappointed,  stirred  up  a  tumult, 
and  he  was  killed  by  the  people  before  he  could  be 
sent  for  to  Rome.  A  temple  to  "  Women's  Good 
Speed "  was  raised  on  the  spot  where  Veturia 
knelt  to  him. 

Another  very  proud   patrician   family  was  the 


88  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Quinctian.  The  father,  Lucius  Quinctms,  was 
called  Cincirmatus,  from  his  long  flowing  curls 
of  hair.  He  was  the  ablest  man  among  the  Romans, 
but  stern  and  grave,  and  his  eldest  son  Kseso  was 
charged  by  the  tribunes  with  a  murder  and  fled  the 
country.  Soon  after  there  was  a  great  inroad  of 
the  iEqui  and  Volscians,  and  the  Romans  found 
themselves  in  great  danger.  They  saw  no  one 
could  save  them  but  Cincinnatus,  so  they  met  in 
haste  and  chose  him  Dictator,  though  he  was  not 
present.  Messengers  were  sent  to  his  little  farm 
on  the  Tiber,  and  there  they  found  him  holding  the 
stilts  of  the  plough.  When  they  told  their  errand, 
he  turned  to  his  wife,  who  was  helping  him,  and 
said,  "  Racilia,  fetch  me  nry  toga  ;  "  then  he  washed 
his  face  and  hands,  and  was  saluted  as  Dictator. 
A  boat  was  ready  to  take  him  to  Rome,  and  as  he 
landed,  he  was  met  by  the  four-and-twenty  lictors 
belonging  to  the  two  consuls  and  escorted  to  his 
dwelling.  In  the  morning  he  named  as  general  of 
the  cavalry  Lucius  Tarquitius,  a  brave  old  patrician 
who  had  become  too  poor  even  to  keep  a  horse. 
Marching'  out  at  the  head  of  all  the  men  who  could 
bear  arms,  he  thoroughly  routed  the  iEqui,  and 
then  resigned  his  dictatorship  at  the  end  of  sixteen 
(iays.     Nor  would   he  accept  any  of  the  spoil,  but 


Coriolanus  and   Cincmnatus. 


89 


went  back  to  his  plough,  his  only  reward  being 
that  his  son  was  forgiven  and  recalled  from  ban- 
ishment. 

These  are  the  grand  old  stories  that  came  down 
from  old  time,  but  how  much  is  true  no  one  can 
tell,  and  there  is  reason  to  think  that,  though  the 
leaders  like  Cincinnatus  and  Coriolanus  might  be 
brave,  the  Romans  were  really  pressed  hard  by  the 


PLOrGHTNTG. 


Volscians  and  iEqui,  and  lost  a  good  deal  of  ground, 
though  they  were  too  proud  to  own  it.  No  won- 
der, while  the  two  orders  of  the  state  were  always 
pulling  different  ways.  However,  the  tribune 
Icilius  succeeded  in  the  year  454  in  getting  the 
Aventine  Hill  granted  to  the  plebeians ;  and  they 


90  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

had  another  champion  called  Lucius  Sicinius  Den- 
tatus,  who  was  so  brave  that  he  was  called  the 
Roman  Achilles.  He  had  received  no  less  than 
forty-five  wounds  in  different  fights  before  he  was 
fifty-eight  years  old,  and  had  had  fourteen  civic 
crowns.  For  the  Romans  gave  an  oak-leaf  wreath, 
which  they  called  a  civic  crown,  to  a  man  who 
saved  the  life  of  a  fellow-citizen,  and  a  mural 
crown  to  him  who  first  scaled  the  walls  of  a  be- 
sieged city.  And  when  a  consul  had  gained  a  great 
victory,  he  had  what  was  called  a  triumph.  He 
was  drawn  in  his  chariot  into  the  city,  his  victorious 
troops  marching  before  him  with  their  spears  wav- 
ing with  laurel  boughs,  a  wreath  of  laurel  was  on 
his  head,  his  little  children  sat  with  him  in  the 
chariot,  and  the  spoil  of  the  enemy  was  carried 
along.  All  the  people  decked  their  houses  and 
came  forth  rejoicing  in  holiday  array,  while  he  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Capitol  to  sacrifice  an  ox  to  Jupiter 
there.  His  chief  prisoners  walked  behind  his  car 
in  chains,  and  at  the  moment  of  his  sacrifice  the}' 
were  taken  to  a  cell  below  the  Capitol  and  there 
put  to  death,  for  the  Roman  was  cruel  in  his  joy. 
Nothing  was  more  desired  than  such  a  triumph  ; 
but  such  was  often  the  hatred  between  the  plebeians 
and  the   patricians,    that   sometimes   the   plebeian 


Coriolanus  and   Cincinnatus. 


91 


nriii}  would  stop  short  in  the  middle  of  a  victorious 
campaign  to  hinder  their  consul  from  having  a 
triumph.  Even  Sicinius  is  said  once  to  have  acted 
thus,  and  it  began  to  be  plain  that  Rome  must  fall 
if  it  continued  to  be  thus  divided  against  itself. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE      DECEMVIRS. 
B.C.  450. 

THE  Romans  began  to  see  what  mischiefs  their 
quarrels  did,  and  they  agreed  to  send  three 
of  their  best  and  wisest  men  to  Greece  to  study  the 
laws  of  Solon  at  Athens,  and  report  whether  any 
of  them  could  be  put  in  force  at  Rome. 

To  get  the  new  code  of  laws  which  they  brought 
home  put  into  working  order,  it  was  agreed  for  the 
time  to  have  no  consuls,  praetors,  nor  tribunes,  but 
ten  governors,  perhaps  in  imitation  of  the  nine 
Athenian  archons.  They  were  called  Decemvirs 
(decern,  ten ;  vir,  a  man),  and  at  their  head  was 
Lucius  Appius  Claudius,  the  grandson  of  him  who 
had  killed  himself  to  avoid  being  condemned  for 
his  harshness.     At  first  they  governed  well,  and  a 

92 


The  Decemvirs.  93 

very  good  set  of  laws  was  drawn  up,  which  the 
Romans  called  the  Laws  of  the  Ten  Tables ;  but 
Appius  soon  began  to  give  way  to  the  pride  of  his 
nature,  and  made  himself  hated.  There  was  a  war 
with  the  ^Equi,  in  which  the  Romans  were  beaten. 
Old  Sicinius  Dentatus  said  it  was  owing  to  bad 
management,  and,  as  he  had  been  in  one  hundred 
and  twenty  battles,  everybody  believed  him.  There- 
upon Appius  Claudius  sent  for  him,  begged  for  his 
advice,  and  asked  him  to  join  the  army  that  he 
might  assist  the  commanders.  They  received  him 
warmly,  and,  when  he  advised  them  to  move  their 
camp,  asked  him  to  go  and  choose  a  place,  and  sent 
a  guard  with  him  of  one  hundred  men.  But  these 
were  really  wretches  instructed  to  kill  him,  and  as 
soon  as  he  was  in  a  narrow  rocky  pass  they  set 
upon  him.  The  brave  old  warrior  set  his  back 
against  a  rock  and  fought  so  fiercely  that  he  killed 
many,  and  the  rest  durst  not  come  near  him,  but 
climbed  up  the  rock  and  crushed  him  with  stones 
rolled  down  on  his  head.  Then  they  went  back 
with  a  story  that  they  had  been  attacked  by  the 
enemy,  which  was  believed,  till  a  party  went  out 
to  bmy  the  dead,  and  found  there  were  only  Roman 
corpses  all  lying  round  the  crushed  body  of  Sicinius, 
and  that  none    were    stripped    of   their    armor  or 


94  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

clothes.  Then  the  true  history  was  found  out,  but 
the  Decemvirs  sheltered  the  commanders,  and  would 
believe  nothing  against  them. 

Appius  Claudius  soon  after  did  what  horrified  all 
honest  men  even  more  than  this  treachery  to  the 
brave  old  soldier.  The  Forum  Avas  not  only  the 
place  of  public  assembly  for  state  affairs,  but  the 
regular  market-place,  where  there  were  stalls  and 
booths  for  all  the  wares  that  Romans  dealt  in  — 
meat  stalls,  wool  shops,  stalls  where  wine  was  sold 
in  earthenware  jars  or  leathern  bottles,  and  even 
booths  where  reading  and  writing  was  taught  to 
boys  and  girls,  who  would  learn  by  tracing  letters 
in  the  sand,  and  then  by  writing  them  with  an  iron 
pen  on  a  waxen  table  in  a  frame,  or  with  a  reed 
upon  parchment.  The  children  of  each  family  came 
escorted  by  a  slave  —  the  girls  by  their  nurse,  the 
boys  by  one  called  a  pedagogue. 

Appius,  when  going  to  his  judgment-setit  across 
the  Forum,  saw  at  one  of  these  schools  a  girl  of  fif- 
teen reading  her  lesson.  She  was  so  lovely  that  he 
asked  her  nurse  who  she  was,  and  heard  that  her 
name  was  Virginia,  and  that  she  was  the  daughter 
of  an  honorable  plebeian  and  brave  centurion  named 
Virginius,  who  was  absent  with  the  army  fighting 
with  the  iEqui,  and  that  she  was  to  marry  a  young 


Death  of  Virginia. 


The  Decemvirs.  97 

man  named  Icilius  as  soon  as  the  campaign  was 
over.  Appius  would  gladly  have  married  her  him- 
self, but  there  was  a  patrician  law  against  wedding 
plebeians,  and  he  wickedly  determined  that  if  he 
could  not  have  her  for  his  wife  he  would  have  her 
for  his  slave. 

There  was  one  of  his  clignts  named  Marcus 
Claudius,  whom  he  paid  to  get  up  a  story  that  Vir> 
ginius'  wife  Numitoria,  who  was  dead,  had  never 
had  any  child  at  all,  but  had  bought  a  baby  of  one 
of  his  slaves  and  had  deceived  her  husband  with  it, 
and  thus  that  poor  Virginia  was  really  his  slave. 
As  the  maiden  was  reading  at  her  school,  this 
wretch  and  a  band  of  fellows  like  him  seized  upon 
her,  declaring  that  she  was  his  property,  and  that 
he  would  carry  her  off.  There  was  a  great  uproar, 
and  she  was  dragged  as  far  as  Appius'  judgment- 
seat  ;  but  by  that  time  her  faithful  nurse  had  called 
the  poor  girl's  uncle  Numitorius,  who  could  answer 
for  it  that  she  was  really  his  sister's  child.  But 
Appius  would  not  listen  to  him,  and  all  that  he 
could  gain  was  that  judgment  should  not  be  given 
in  the  matter  until  Virginius  should  have  been 
fetched  from  the  camp. 

Virginius  had  set  out  from  the  camp  with  Icilius 
before  the  messengers  of  Appius  had  reached  the 


98 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


general  with  orders  to  stop  him,  and  he  came  to 
the  Forum  leading  his  daughter  by  the  hand,  weep- 
ing, and  attended  by  a  great  many  ladies.  Claudius 
brought  his  slave,  who  made  false  oath  that  she 
had    sold   her    child    to    Numitoria;  while,  on  the 


CHABIOT    RACES. 


other  hand,  all  the  kindred  of  Virginius  and  his 
wife  gave  such  proof  of  the  contrary  as  any  honest 
judge  would  have  thought  sufficient,  but  Appius 
chose  to  declare  that  the  truth  was  with  his  client. 
There  was  a  great  murmur  of  all  the  people,  but  he 
frowned  at  them,  and  told  them  he  knew  of  their 
meetings,  and  that  there  were  soldiers  in  the  Capitol 


The  Decemvirs.  99 

reach'  to  punish  them,  so  they  must  stand  back  and 
not  hinder  a  master  from  recovering  his  slave. 

Virginius  took  his  poor  daughter  in  his  arms  as 
if  to  give  her  a  last  embrace,  and  drew  her  close  to 
the  stall  of  a  butcher  where  la}-  a  great  knife.  He 
wiped  her  tears,  kissed  her,  and  saying,  "  My  own 
dear  little  girl,  there  is  no  way  but  this,"'  he  snatched 
up  the  knife  and  plunged  it  into  her  heart,  then 
drawing  it  out  he  cried,  "  By  this  blood,  Appius,  I 
devote  thy  blood  to  the  infernal  gods."' 

He  could  not  reach  Appius,  but  the  lictors  could 
not  seize  him,  and  he  mounted  his  horse  and  galloped 
back  to  the  army,  four  hundred  men  following  him, 
and  he  arrived  still  holding  the  knife.  Every  sol- 
dier who  heard  the  story  resolved  no  longer  to  bear 
with  the  Decemvirs,  but  to  march  back  to  the  citj* 
at  once  and  insist  on  the  old  government  being 
restored.  The  Decemvir  generals  tried  to  stop 
them,  but  they  only  answered,  "  We  are  men  with 
swords  in  our  hands."  At  the  same  time  there 
was  such  a  tumult  in  the  city,  that  Appius  was 
forced  to  hide  himself  in  his  own  house  while  Vir- 
ginia's corpse  was  carried  on  a  bier  through  the 
streets,  and  every  one  laid  garlands,  scarfs,  and 
wreaths  of  their  own  hair  upon  it.  When  the 
troops  arrived,  they  and   the   people  joined   in  de- 


100  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

manding  that  the  Decemvirs  should  be  given  up  to 
them  to  be  burnt  alive,  and  that  the  old  magistrates 
should  be  restored.  However,  two  patricians,  Lu- 
cius Valerius  and  Marcus  Horatius,  were  able  so  to 
arrange  matters  that  the  nine  comparatively  inno- 
cent Decemvirs  were  allowed  to  depose  themselves, 
and  Appius  only  was  sent  to  prison,  where  he  killed 
himself  rather  than  face  the  trial  that  awaited  him. 
The  new  code  of  laws,  however,  remained,  but  con- 
suls, praetors,  tribunes,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
magistrates  were  restored,  and  in  the  year  445  a 
law  was  passed  which  enabled  patricians  and  ple- 
beians to  intermarry. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

CAMILLUS'    BANISHMENT. 
B.C.  390. 

^IT^HE  wars  with  the  Etruscans  went  on,  and 
■*■  chiefly  with  the  city  of  Veii,  which  stood  on 
a  hill  twelve  miles  from  Rome,  and  was  altogether 
thirty  years  at  war  with  it.  At  last  the  Romans 
made  ap  their  minds  that,  instead  of  going  home 
every  harvest-time  to  gather  in  their  crops,  they 
must  watch  the  city  constantly  till  they  could  take 
it,  and  thus,  as  the  besiegers  were  unable  to  do  their 
own  work,  pay  was  raised  for  them  to  enable  them 
to  get  it  done,  and  this  was  the  beginning  of  paying 
armies. 

The  siege  of  Veii  lasted  ten  years,  and   during 
the  last  the  Alban  lake  filled  to  an  unusual  height, 
although  the  summer  was  very  dry.     One  of  the 
101 


102 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


Veian  soldiers  cried  out  to  the  Romans  half  in  jest, 
"  You  will  never  take  Veii  till  the  Alban  lake  is 
dry."  It  turned  out  that  there  was  an  old  tradition 
that  Veii  should  fall  when  the  lake  was  drained. 
On  this  the  senate  sent  orders  to  have  canals  dug  to 
carry  the  waters  to  the  sea,  and  these  still  remain. 
Still  Veii  held  out,  and  to  finish  the  war  a  dictator 
was  appointed,  Marcus  Furius  Camillus,  who  chose 


ARROW    MACHINE. 


for  his  second  in  command  a  man  of  one  of  the 
most  virtuous  families  in  Rome,  as  their  surname 
testified,  Publius  Cornelius,  called  Scipio,  or  the 
Staff,  because  either  he  or  one  of  his  forefathers  had 
been  the  staff  of  his  father's    old  age.     Camillus 


Camillus'  Banishment.  103 

took  the  city  by  assault,  with,  an  immense  quantity 
of  spoil,  which  was  divided  among  the  soldiers. 

Camillus  in  his  pride  took  to  himself  at  his  tri- 
umph honors  that  had  hitherto  only  been  paid  to 
the  gods.  He  had  his  face  painted  with  vermilion 
and  his  car  drawn  by  milk-white  horses.  This 
shocked  the  people,  and  he  gave  greater  offence  by 
declaring  that  he  had  vowed  a  tenth  part  of  the 
spoil  to  Apollo,  but  had  forgotten  it  in  the  division 
of  the  plunder,  and  now  must  take  it  again.  The 
soldiers  would  not  consent,  but  lest  the  god  should 
be  angry  with  them,  it  was  resolved  to  send  a  gold 
vase  to  his  oracle  at  Delphi.  All  the  women  of 
Rome  brought  their  jewels,  and  the  senate  reward- 
ed them  by  a  decree  that  funeral  speeches  might 
be  made  over  their  graves  as  over  those  of  men, 
and  likewise  that  they  might  be  driven  in  chariots 
to  the  public  games. 

Camillus  commanded  in  another  war  with  the 
Falisci,  also  an  Etruscan  race,  and  laid  siege  to 
their  city.  The  sons  of  almost  all  the  chief  families 
were  in  charge  of  a  sort  of  schoolmaster,  who 
taught  them  both  reading  and  all  kinds  of  exercises. 
One  day  this  man,  pretending  to  take  the  boys  out 
walking,  led  them  all  into  the  enemy's  camp,  to  the 
tent  of  Camillus,  where  he  told  that  he  brought  them 


104  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

all,  and  with  them  the  place,  since  the  Romans  had 
only  to  threaten  their  lives  to  make  their  fathers 
deliver  up  the  city.  Camillus,  however,  was  so 
shocked  at  such  perfidy,  that  he  immediately  bade 
the  lictors  strip  the  fellow  instantly,  and  give  the 
boys  rods  with  which  to  scourge  him  back  into  the 
town.  Their  fathers  were  so  grateful  that  they 
made  peace  at  once,  and  about  the  same  time  the 
iEqui  were  also  conquered  ;  and  the  commons  and 
open  lands  belonging  to  Veii  being  divided,  so  that 
each  Roman  freeman  had  six  acres,  the  plebeians 
were  contented  for  the  time. 

The  truth  seems  to  have  been  that  these  Etrus- 
can nations  were  weakened  by  a  great  new  nation 
coming  on  them  from  the  North.  They  were  what 
the  Romans  called  Galli  or  Gauls,  one  of  the  great 
races  of  the  old  stock  which  has  always  been  find- 
ing its  way  westward  into  Europe,  and  they  had 
their  home  north  of  the  Alps,  but  they  were  al- 
ways pressing  on  and  on,  and  had  long  since  made 
settlements  in  northern  Italy.  They  were  in  clans, 
each  obedient  to  one  chief  as  a  father,  and  joining 
together  in  one  brotherhood.  They  had  lands  to 
which  whole  families  had  a  common  right,  and 
when  their  numbers  outgrew  what  the  land  could 
maintain,  the  bolder  ones  would   set  off  with  their 


Ccmiillus'  Banishment.  107 

wives,  children,  and  cattle  to  find  new  homes. 
The  Greeks  and  Romans  themselves  had  begun 
first  in  the  same  way,  and  their  tribes,  and  the 
claims  of  all  to  the  common  land,  were  the  remains 
of  the  old  way ;  but  they  had  been  settled  in  cities 
so  long  that  this  had  been  forgotten,  and  they  were 
very  different  people  from  the  wild  men  who  spoke 
what  we  call  Welsh,  and  wore  checked  tartan 
trews  and  plaids,  with  gold  collars  round  their 
necks,  round  shields,  huge  broadswords,  and  their 
red  or  black  hair  long  and  shaggy.  The  Romans 
knew  little  or  nothing  about  what  passed  beyond 
their  own  Apennines,  and  went  on  with  their  own 
quarrels.  Camillus  was  accused  of  having  taken 
more  than  his  proper  share  of  the  spoil  of  Veii,  in 
especial  a  brass  door  from  a  temple.  His  friends 
offered  to  pay  any  fine  that  might  be  laid  on  him, 
but  he  was  too  proud  to  stand  his  trial,  and  chose 
rather  to  leave  Rome.  As  he  passed  the  gates,  he 
turned  round  and  called  upon  the  gods  to  bring 
Rome  to  speedy  repentance  for  having  driven  him 
away. 

Even  then  the  Gauls  were  in  the  midst  of  a  war 
with  Clusium,  the  city  of  Porsena,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants sent  to  beg  the  help  of  the  Romans,  and  the 
senate  sent   three  young   brothers  of  the    Fabian 


108  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

family  to  try  to  arrange  matters.  They  met  the 
Gaulish  Bran  or  chief,  whom  Latin  authors  call 
Brennus,  and  asked  him  what  was  his  quarrel  with 
Clusium  or  his  right  to  any  part  of  Etruria.  Bren- 
nus answered  that  his  right  was  his  sword,  and  that 
all  things  belonged  to  the  brave,  and  that  his  quar- 
rel with  the  men  of  Clusium  was,  that  though  they 
had  more  land  than  they  could  till,  they  would  not 
yield  him  any.  As  to  the  Romans,  they  had  robbed 
their  neighbors  already,  and  had  no  right  to  find 
fault. 

This  put  the  Fabian  brothers  in  a  rage,  and  they 
forgot  the  caution  of  their  family,  as  well  as  those 
rules  of  all  nations  which  forbid  an  ambassador  to 
fight,  and  also  forbid  his  person  to  be  touched  by 
the  enemy  ;  and  when  the  men  of  Clusium  made 
an  attack  on  the  Gauls  they  joined  in  the  attack, 
and  Quintus,  the  eldest  brother,  slew  one  of  the 
chiefs.  Brennus,  wild  as  he  was,  knew  these  laws 
of  nations,  and  in  great  anger  broke  up  his  siege 
of  Clusium,  and,  marching  towards  Rome,  de- 
manded that  the  Fabii  should  be  given  up  to  him. 
Instead  of  this,  the  Romans  made  them  all  three 
military  tribunes,  and  as  the  Gauls  came  nearer  the 
whole  army  marched  out  to  meet  them  in  such 
haste  that  they  did  not  wait  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods 


Garnillus   Banishment.  109 

nor  consult  the  omens.  The  tribunes  were  all 
young  and  hot-headed,  and  they  despised  the  Gauls ; 
so  out  they  went  to  attack  them  on  the  banks  of 
the  Allia,  only  seven  and  a-half  miles  from  Rome. 
A  most  terrible  defeat  they  had ;  many  fell  in  the 
field,  many  were  killed  in  the  flight,  others  were 
drowned  in  trying  to  swim  the  Tiber,  others  scat- 
tered to  Veii  and  the  other  cities,  and  a  few,  horror- 
stricken  and  wet  through,  rushed  into  Rome  with 
the  sad  tidings.  There  were  not  men  enough  left 
to  defend  the  walls  !  The  enemy  would  instantly 
be  upon  them  !  The  only  place  strong  enough  to 
keep  them  out  was  the  Capitol,  and  that  would 
only  hold  a  few  people  within  it !  So  there  was 
nothing  for  it  but  flight.  The  braver,  stronger 
men  shut  themselves  up  in  the  Capitol ;  all  the 
rest,  with  the  women  and  children,  put  their  most 
precious  goods  into  carts  and  left  the  city.  The 
Vestal  Virgins  carried  the  sacred  fire,  and  were 
plodding  along  in  the  heat,  when  a  plebeian  named 
Albinus  saw  their  state,  helped  them  into  his  cart, 
and  took  them  to  the  city  of  Cumse,  where  they 
found  shelter  in  a  temple.  And  so  Rome  was  left 
to  the  enemy. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE     SACK     OF     ROME. 
b.  c.  390. 

ROME  was  left  to  the  enemy,  except  for  the 
small  garrison  in  the  Capitol  and  for  eight}" 
of  the  senators,  men  too  old  to  flee,  who  devoted 
themselves  to  the  gods  to  save  the  rest,  and,  array- 
ing themselves  in  their  robes  —  some  as  former 
consuls,  some  as  priests,  some  as  generals  —  sat 
down  with  their  ivory  staves  in  their  hands,  in 
their  chairs  of  state  in  the  Forum,  to  await  the 
enemy. 

In  burst  the  savage  Gauls,  roaming  all  over  the 
city  till  they  came  to  the  Forum,  tvhere  they  stood 
amazed  and  awe-struck  at  the  sight  of  the  eighty 
grand  old  men  motionless  in  their  chairs.  At  first 
they  looked  at  the  strange,  calm  figures  as  if  they 

were  the  gods  of  the  place,  until  one  Gaul,  as  if  desir- 
110 


The  Sack  of  Roi 


111 


ous  of  knowing  whether  they  were  flesh  and  blood  or 
not,  stroked  the  beard  of  the  nearest.      The  senator 
esteeming    this    an    insult,   struck    the    man  on  the 


RUINS    UF    THE    I-'OKIMI    Al 


112  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

face  with  his  staff,  and  this  was  the  sign  for  the 
slaughter  of  them  all. 

Then  the  Gauls  began  to  plunder  every  house, 
dragging  out  and  killing  the  few  inhabitants  they 
found  there ;  feasting,  revelling,  and  piling  up 
riches  to  carry  away  ;  burning  and  overthrowing 
the  houses.  Day  after  day  the  little  garrison  in 
the  Capitol  saw  the  sight,  and  wondered  if  their 
stock  of  food  would  hold  out  till  the  Gauls  should 
go  away  or  till  their  friends  should  come  to  their 
relief.  Yet  when  the  day  came  round  for  the  sacri- 
fice to  the  ancestor  of  one  of  these  beleaguered  men, 
he  boldly  went  forth  to  the  altar  of  his  own  ruined 
house  on  the  Quirinal  Hill,  and  made  his  offering 
to  his  forefathers,  nor  did  one  Gaul  venture  to 
touch  him,  seeing  that  he  was  performing  a  relig- 
ious rite. 

The  escaped  Romans  had  rested  at  Ardea,  where 
they  found  Camillus,  and  were  by  him  formed  into 
an  army,  but  he  would  not  take  the  generalship 
without  authority  from  what  was  left  of  the  Senate, 
and  that  was  shut  up  in  the  Capitol  in  the  midst  of 
the  Gauls.  A  brave  man,  however,  named  Pontius 
Cominius,  declared  that  he  could  make  his  way 
through  the  Gauls  by  night,  and  climb  up  the 
Capitol  and  down  again  by  a  j^recipice  which  they 


The  Sack  of  Rome.  113 

did  not  watch  because  they  thought  no  one  could 
mount  it,  and  that  he  would  bring  back  the  orders 
of  the  Senate.  He  swam  the  Tiber  by  the  help  of 
corks,  landed  at  night  in  ruined  Rome  among  the 
sleeping  enemy,  and  climbed  up  the  rock,  bringing 
hope  at  last  to  the  worn-out  and  nearly  starving 
garrison.  Quickly  they  met,  recalled  the  sentence 
of  banishment  against  Camillus,  and  named  him 
Dictator.  Pontius,  having  rested  in  the  meantime, 
slid  down  the  rock  and  made  his  way  back  to  Ardea 
safely  ;  but  the  broken  twigs  and  torn  ivy  on  the 
rock  showed  the  Gauls  that  it  had  been  scaled,  and 
they  resolved  that  where  man  had  gone  man  could 
go.  So  Brennns  told  off  the  most  surefooted 
mountaineers  he  could  find,  and  at  night,  two  and 
two,  they  crept  up  the  crag,  so  silently  that  no 
alarm  was  given,  till  just  as  they  came  to  the  top, 
some  geese  that  were  kept  as  sacred  to  Juno,  and 
for  that  reason  had  been  spared  in  spite  of  the 
scarcity,  began  to  scream  and  cackle,  and  thus 
brought  to  the  spot  a  brave  officer  called  Marcus 
Manlius,  who  found  two  Gauls  in  the  act  of  setting 
foot  on  the  level  ground  on  the  top.  With  a  sweep 
of  his  sword  he  struck  off  the  hand  of  one,  and 
with  his  buckler  smote  the  other  on  the  head, 
tumbling  them  both  headlong  down,  knocking  down 


114  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome 

their  fellows  in  their  flight,  and  the  Capitol  was 
saved. 

By  way  of  reward  every  Roman  soldier  brought 
Manlius  a  few  grains  of  the  corn  he  received  from 
the  common  stock  and  a  few  drops  of  wine,  while 
the  tribune  who  was  on  guard  that  night  was 
thrown  from  the  rock. 

Foiled  thus,  and  with  great  numbers  of  his  men 
dying  from  the  fever  that  always  prevailed  in 
Rome  in  summer,  Brennus  thought  of  retreating, 
and  offered  to  leave  Rome  if  the  garrison  in  the 
Capitol  would  pay  him  a  thousand  pounds'  weight 
of  gold.  There  was  treasure  enough  in  the  temples 
to  do  this,  and  as  they  could  not  tell  what  Camillus 
was  about,  nor  if  Pontius  had  reached  him  safely, 
and  they  were  on  the  point  of  being  starved,  they 
consented.  The  gold  was  brought  to  the  place  ap- 
pointed by  the  Gauls,  and  when  the  weights  proved 
not  to  be  equal  to  the  amount  that  the  Romans  had 
with  them,  Brennus  resolved  to  have  all,  put  his 
sword  into  the  other  scale,  saying,  "  Vse  victis  " 
—  "  Woe  to  the  conquered."  But  at  that  moment 
there  was  a  noise  outside  —  Camillus  was  come. 
The  Gauls  were  cut  down  and  slain  among  the 
ruins,  those  who  fled  were  killed  by  the  people  in 
the  country  as  they  wandered  in  the  fields,  and  not 


The  Sack  of  Rome.  115 

one  returned  to  tell  the  tale.  So  the  ransom  of  the 
Capitol  was  rescued,  and  was  laid  up  by  Camillus 
in  the  vaults  as  a  reserve  for  future  danger. 

This  was  the  Roman  story,  but  their  best  histo- 
rians say  that  it  is  made  better  for  Rome  than  is 
quite  the  truth, -for  that  the  Capitol  was  really  con- 
quered, and  the  Gauls  helped  themselves  to  what- 
ever they  chose  and  went  off  with  it,  though  sick- 
ness and  weariness  made  them  afterwards  disperse, 
so  that  they  were  mostly  cut  off  by  the  country 
people. 

Every  old  record  had  been  lost  and  destroyed,  so 
that,  before  this,  Roman  history  can  only  be  hear- 
say, derived  from  what  the  survivors  recollected; 
and  the  whole  of  the  biddings,  temples,  senate- 
house,  and  dwellings  lay  in  ruins.  Some  of  the 
citizens  wished  to  change  the  site  of  the  city  to 
Veii ;  but  Camillus,  who  was  Dictator,  was  re- 
solved to  hold  fast  by  the  hearths  of  their  fathers, 
and  while  the  debate  was  going  on  in  the  ruins  of 
the  senate-house  a  troop  of  soldiers  were  marching 
in,  and  the  centurion  was  heard  calling  out,  "  Plant 
your  ensign  here  ;  this  is  a  good  place  to  stay  in." 
"A  happy  omen,"  cried  one  of  the  senators;  "I 
adore  the  gods  who  gave  it."  So  it  was  settled  to 
rebuild  the  city,  and   in  digging   among  the  nuns 


116  Young  Folks'1  History  of  Home. 

there  were  found  the  golden  rod  of  Romulus,  the 
brazen  tables  on  which  the  Laws  of  the  Twelve 
Tables  were  engraved,  and  other  brasses  with  rec- 
ords of  treaties  with  other  nations.  Fabius  was 
accused  of  having  done  all  the  harm  by  having 
broken  the  law  of  nations,  but  he  w.as  spared  at  the 
entreaty  of  his  friends.  Manlius  was  surnamed 
Capitolinus,  and  had  a  house  granted  him  on  the 
Capitol ;  and  Camillus  when  he  laid  down  his  dic- 
tatorship, was  saluted  as  like  Romulus  —  another 
founder  of  Rome. 

The  new  buildings  were  larger  and  more  orna- 
mented than  the  old  ones  ;  but  the  lines  of  the  old 
underground  drains,  built  in  the  mighty  Etruscan 
fashion  by  the  elder  Tarquin  as  it  was  said,  were 
not  followed,  and  this  tended  to  render  Rome  more 
unhealthy,  so  that  few  of  her  richer  citizens  lived 
there  in  summer  or  autumn,  but  went  out  to  coun- 
try houses  on  the  hills. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE     PLEBEIAN      CONSULATE. 
B.C.  367. 

A  LL  the  old  enemies  of  Rome  attacked  her 
■*-  *»  again  when  she  was  weak  and  rising  out  of 
her  ruins,  but  Camillus  had  wisely  persuaded  the 
Romans  to  add  the  people  of  Veii,  Capena,  and 
Falerii  to  the  number  of  their  citizens,  making  four 
more  tribes  :  and  this  addition  to  their  numbers 
helped  them  beat  off  their  foes. 

But  this  enlarged  the  number  of  the  plebeians, 
and  enabled  them  to  make  their  claims  more  heard. 
Moreover,  the  old  quarrel  between  poor  and  rich, 
debtor  and  creditor,  broke  out  again.  Those  who 
had  saved  their  treasure  in  the  time  of  the  sack  had 
made  loans  to  those  who  had  lost  to  enable  them  to 
build  their  houses  and  stock  their  farms  again, 
119 


120 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


and  after  a  time  they  called  loudly  for  payment, 
and  when  it  was  not  forthcoming  had  the  debtors 
seized  to  be  sold  as  slaves.  Camillus  himself  was 
one  of  the  hardest  creditors  of  all,  and  the  barracks 
where  slaves  were  placed  to  be  sold  were  full  of 
citizens. 

Marcus  Manlius  Capitolinus  was  full  of  pity,  and 


COSTUMES. 


raised  money  to  redeem  four  hundred  of  them,  try- 
ing with  all  his  might  to  get  the  law  changed  and 
to  save  the  rest;  but  the  rich  men  and  the  patri- 
cians thought  he  acted  only  out  of  jealousy  of  Ca- 
millus, and  to  get  up  a  party  for  himself.     They 


The  Plebeian  Consulate. 


121 


said  he  was  raising  a  sedition,  and  Pnblius  Corne- 
'ius  Cossus  was  named  Dictator  to  put  it  down. 
Manlius  was  seized  and  put  into  chains,  but  released 
ticjain.  At  last  the  rich  men  bought  over  two  of 
the  tribunes  to  accuse  him  of  wanting  to  make 
himself  a  king,  and  this  hated 
vitle  turned  all  the  people 
against  their  friend,  so  that  the 
general  cry  sentenced  him  to  be 
tjast  down  from  the  top  of  the 
Tarpeian  rock  :  his  house  on  the 
Capitol  was  overthrown,  and  his 
family  declared  that  no  son  of 
their  house  should  ever  again 
bear  the  name  of  Manlius. 

Yet  the  plebeians  were  making 
their  way,  and  at  last  succeeded 
in  gaining  the  plebeian  magis- 
tracies  and   equal  honors  with 

COSTUME. 

the  patricians.  A  curious  story 
is  told  of  the  cause  of  the  last  effort  which  gained 
the  day.  A  patrician  named  Fabius  Ambustus  had 
two  daughters,  one  of  whom  he  gave  in  marriage  to 
Servius  Sulpicius,  a  patrician  and  military  tribune, 
the  other  to  Licinius  Stolo.  One  day.  when  Stolo's 
wife  was  visiting  her  sister,  there  was  a  great  noise 


122  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

and  thundering  at  the  gates  which  frightened  her, 
until  the  other  Fabii  said  it  was  only  her  husband 
coming  home  from  the  Forum  attended  by  his 
lictors  and  clients,  laughing  at  her  ignorance  and 
alarm,  until  a  whole  troop  of  the  clients  came  in  to 
pay  their  court  to  the  tribune's  wife. 

Stolo's  wife  went  home  angry  and  vexed,  and 
reproached  her  husband  and  her  father  for  not  hav- 
ing made  her  equal  with  her  sister,  and  so  wrought 
on  them  that  they  put  themselves  at  the  head  of 
the  movement  in  favor  of  the  plebeians ;  and  Licin- 
ius  and  another  young  plebeian  named  Lucius  Sex- 
tius,  being  elected  year  after  year  tribunes  of  the 
people,  went  on  every  time  saying  Veto  to  what- 
ever was  proposed  by  anybody,  and  giving  out  that 
they  should  go  on  doing  so  till  three  measures  were 
carried  —  viz.,  that  interest  on  debt  should  not  be 
demanded ;  that  no  citizen  should  possess  more  than 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  cf  the  public  land, 
or  feed  more  than  a  certain  quantity  of  cattle  on 
the  public  pastures ;  and,  lastly,  that  one  of  the 
two  consuls  should  always  be  a  plebeian. 

They  went  on  for  eight  years,  always  elected  by 
the  people  and  always  stopping  everything.  At 
last  there  was  another  inroad  of  the  Gauls  expected, 
and  Camillus,  though  eighty  years  old,  was  for  the 


The  Plebeian  Consulate.  123 

fifth  time  chosen  Dictator,  and  gained  a  great  vic- 
tory upon  the  banks  of  the  Anio.  The  Senate 
begged  him  to  continue  Dictator  till  he  could  set 
their  affairs  to  rights,  and  he  vowed  to  build  a  tem- 
ple to  Concord  if  he  could  succeed.  He  saw  indeed 
that  it  was  time  to  yield,  and  persuaded  the  Senate 
to  think  so  ;  so  that  at  last,  in  the  year  867,  Sextius 
was  elected  consul,  together  with  a  patrician,  iEmil- 
ius.  Even  then  the  Senate  would  not  receive 
Sextius  till  he  was  introduced  by  Camillus.  From 
this  time  the  patricians  and  plebeians  were  on  an 
equal  footing  as  far  as  regarded  the  magistracies, 
but  the  priesthood  could  belong  only  to  the  patri- 
cians. Camillus  lived  to  a  great  age,  and  was 
honored  as  having  three  times  saved  his  country. 
He  died  at  last  of  a  terrible  pestilence  which  raged 
in  Rome  in  the  year  365. 

The  priests  recommended  that  they  should  invite 
the  players  from  Etruria  to  perform  a  drama  in 
honor  of  the  feats  of  the  gods,  and  tins  was  the  be- 
ginning of  play-acting  in  Rome. 

Not  long  after  there  yawned  a  terrible  chasm  in 
the  Forum,  most  likely  from  an  earthquake,  but 
nothing  seemed  to  fill  it  up,  and  the  priests  and 
augurs  consulted  their  oracles  about  it.  These 
made  answer  that  it  would  only  close  on  receiving 


124  Young  Folks'  History   of  Rome. 

of  what  was  most  precious.  Gold  and  jewels  were 
thrown  in,  but  it  still  seemed  bottomless,  and  at 
last  the  augurs  declared  that  it  was  courage  that 
was  the  most  precious  thing  in  Rome.  Thereupon 
a  patrician  youth  named  Marcus  Curtius  decked 
himself  in  his  choicest  robes,  put  on  his  armor,  took 
his  shield,  sword,  and  spear,  mounted  his  horse,  and 
leapt  headlong  into  the  gulf,  thus  giving  it  the 
most  precious  of  all  things,  courage  and  self-devo- 
tion. After  this  one  story  says  it  closed  of  itself, 
another  that  it  became  easy  to  fill  it  up  with  earth. 
The  Romans  thought  that  such  a  sacrifice  must 
please  the  gods  and  bring  them  success  in  their 
battles  ;  but  in  the  war  Avith  the  Hernici  that  was 
now  being  waged  the  plebeian  consul  was  killed, 
and  no  doubt  there  was  much  difficulty  in  getting 
the  patricians  to  obey  a  plebeian  properly,  for  in  the 
course  of  the  next  twenty  years  it  was  necessary 
fourteen  times  to  appoint  a  Dictator  for  the  defence 
of  the  state,  so  that  it  is  plain  there  must  have  been 
many  alarms  and  much  difficulty  in  enforcing  dis- 
cipline ;  but,  on  the  whole,  success  was  with  Rome, 
and  the  neighboring  tribes  grew  weaker. 


CORTius  LKAPIHK3   into  the  gulf.  {From  a  B as- Reliqf.'', 


o 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE   DEVOTION   OF   DECITTS. 

B.C.  357. 

THER  tribes  of  the  Gauls  did  not  fail  to 
come  again  and  make  fresh  inroads  on  tie 
valleys  of  the  Tiber  and  Anio„  Whenever  they 
came,  instead  of  choosing  men  from  the  tribes  to 
form  an  army,  as  in  a  war  with  their  neighbors,  all 
the  fighting  men  of  the  nation  turned  out  to  oppose 
them,  generally  under  a  Dictator. 

In  one  of  these  wars  the  Gauls  came  within  three 
miles  of  Rome,  and  the  two  hosts  were  encamped 
on  the  banks  of  the  Anio,  with  a  bridge  between 
them.  Along  this  bridge  strutted  an  enormous 
Gallic  chief,  much  taller  than  any  of  the  Romans, 
boasting  himself,  and  calling  on  any  one  of  them  to 
come  out  and  fight  with  him.  Again  it  was  a 
127 


128  Young  Folks1  History  of  Rome. 

Manlius  who  distinguished  himself.  Titus,  a  young 
man  of  that  family,  begged  the  Dictator's  permis- 
sion to  accept  the  challenge,  and,  having  gained  it, 
he  changed  his  round  knight's  shield  for  the  square 
one  of  the  foot  soldiers,  and  with  his  short  sword 
came  forward  on  the  bridge.  The  Gaul  made  a 
sweep  at  him  with  his  broadsword,  but,  slipping 
within  the  guard,  Manlius  stabbed  the  giant  in  two 
places,  and  as  he  fell  cut  off  his  head,  and  took  the 
tore,  or  broad  twisted  gold  collar  that  was  the 
mark  of  all  Gallic  chieftains.  Thence  the  brave 
youth  was  called  Titus  Manlius  Torquatus — a  sur- 
name to  make  up  for  that  of  Capitolinus,  which 
had  never  been  used  again. 

The  next  time  the  Gauls  came,  Marcus  Valerius, 
a  descendant  of  the  old  hero  Publicola,  was  consul, 
and  gained  a  great  victory.  It  was  said  that  in  the 
midst  of  the  fight  a  monstrous  raven  appeared  fly- 
ing over  his  head,  resting  now  and  then  on  his 
helmet,  but  generally  pecking  at  the  eyes  of  the 
Gauls  and  flapping  its  wings  in  their  faces,  so  that 
they  fled  discomfited.  Thence  he  was  called  Cor- 
vus  or  Corvinus.  The  Gauls  never  again  came  in 
such  force,  but  a  new  enemy  came  against  them, 
namely,  the  Samnites,  a  people  who  dwelt  to  the 
south  of  them.     They  were  of  Italian  blood,  moun- 


The  Devotion  of  Decius.  131 

taineers  of  the  Southern  Apennines,  not  unlike  the 
Romans  in  habits,  language,  and  training,  and  the 
staunchest  enemies  they  had  jet  encountered.  The 
war  began  from  an  entreaty  from  the  people  of 
Campania  to  the  Romans  to  defend  them  from  the 
attacks  of  the  Samnites.  For  the  Campanians, 
living  in  the  rich  plains,  whose  name  is  still  un- 
changed, were  an  idle,  languid  people,  whom  the 
stout  men  of  Samnium  could  easily  overcome.  The 
Romans  took  their  part,  and  Valerius  Corvus 
gained  a  victory  at  Mount  Gaurus  ;  but  the  other 
consul,  Cornelius  Cossus,  fell  into  danger,  having 
marched  foolishly  into  a  forest,  shut  in  by  moun- 
tains, and  with  only  one  way  out  through  a  deep 
valley,  which  was  guarded  by  the  Samnites.  In 
this  almost  hopeless  danger  one  of  the  military 
tribunes,  Publius  Decius  Mus,  discovered  a  little 
hill  above  the  enemy's  camp,  and  asked  leave  to 
lead  a  small  body  of  men  to  seize  it,  since  he  would 
be  likely  thus  to  draw  off  the  Samnites,  and  while 
they  were  destroying  him,  as  he  fully  expected,  the 
Romans  could  get  out  of  the  valley.  Hidden  by 
the  wood,  he  gained  the  hill,  and  there  the  Sam- 
nites saw  him,  to  their  great  amazement ;  and 
while  they  were  considering  whether  to  attack  him, 
the  other  Romans  were  able  to  march  out  of  the 


132  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

valley.  Finding  he  was  not  attacked,  Deems  set 
guards,  and,  when  night  came  on,  inarched  down 
again  as  quietly  as  possible  to  join  the  army,  who 
were  now  on  the  other  side  of  the  Samnite  camp. 
Through  the  midst  of  this  he  and  his  little  camp 
went  without  alarm,  until,  about  half-way  across, 
one  Roman  struck  his  foot  against  a  shield.  The 
noise  awoke  the  Samnites,  but  Decius  caused  his 
men  to  give  a  great  shout,  and  this,  in  the  dark- 
ness, so  confused  the  enemy  that  they  missed  the 
little  body  of  Romans,  who  safely  gained  their  own 
camp.  Decius  cut  short  the  thanks  and  joy  of  the 
consul  by  advising  him  to  fall  at  once  on  the  Sam- 
nite camp  in  its  dismay,  and  this  was  done  ;  the 
Samnites  were  entirely  routed,  30,000  killed,  and 
their  camp  taken.  Decius  received  for  his  reward 
a  hundred  oxen,  a  white  bull  with  gilded  horns, 
and  three  crowns  —  one  of  gold  for  courage,  one  of 
oak  for  having  saved  the  lives  of  his  fellow-citizens, 
and  one  of  grass  for  having  taken  the  enemy's 
camp  —  while  all  his  men  were  for  life  to  receive  a 
double  allowance  of  corn.  Decius  offered  up  the 
white  bull  in  sacrifice  to  Mars,  and  gave  the  oxen 
to  the  companions  of  his  glory. 

Afterwards  Valerius  routed  the  Samnites  again, 
and  his  troops  brought  in  120  standards  and  40,000 


The  Devotion  of  Decius.  133 

shields  which   they   had  picked    up,  having  been 
thrown  away  by  the  enemy  in  their  flight. 

Peace  was  made  for  the  time ;  but  the  Latins, 
now  in  alliance  with  Rome,  began  to  make  war  on 
the  Samnites.  They  complained,  and  the  Romans 
feeling  bound  to  take  their  part,  a  great  Latin  war 
began.  Manlius  Torquatus  and  Decius  Mus,  the 
two  greatest  heroes  of  Rome,  were  consuls.  As  the 
Latins  and  Romans  were  alike  in  dress,  arms,  and 
language,  in  order  to  prevent  taking  friend  for  foe, 
strict  orders  were  given  that  no  one  should  attack 
a  Latin  without  orders,  or  go  out  of  his  rank,  on 
pain  of  death.  A  Latin  champion  came  out  boast- 
ing, as  the  two  armies  lay  beneath  Mount  Vesuvius, 
then  a  fair  vine-clad  hill  showing  no  flame.  Young 
Manlius  remembering  his  father's  fame,  darted  out, 
fought  hand  to  hand  with  the  Latin,  slew  him,  and 
brought  home  his  spoils  to  his  father's  feet.  He 
had  forgotten  that  his  father  had  only  fought  after 
permission  was  given.  The  elder  Manlius  received 
him  with  stern  grief.  He  had  broken  the  law  of 
discipline,  and  he  must  die.  His  head  was  struck  off 
amid  the  grief  and  anger  of  the  army.  The  battle 
was  bravely  fonght,  but  it  went  against  the  Romans 
at  first.  Then  Decius,  recollecting  a  vision  which 
had  declared  that  a  consul  must  devote  himself  for 


134  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

his  country,  called  on  Valerius,  the  Pontifex  Max- 
imus,  to  dedicate  him.  He  took  off  his  armor,  put 
on  his  purple  toga,  covered  his  head  with  a  veil,  and 
standing  on  a  spear,  repeated  the  words  of  consecra- 
tion after  Valerius,  then  mounted  his  horse  and  rode 
in  among  the  Latins.  They  at  first  made  way,  but 
presently  closed  in  and  overpowered  him  with  a 
shower  of  darts  ;  and  thus  he  gave  for  his  country 
the  life  he  had  once  offered  for  it. 

The  victory  was  won,  and  was  so  followed  up 
that  the  Latins  were  forced  to  yield  to  Rome. 
Some  of  the  cities  retained  their  own  laws  and 
magistrates,  but  others  had  Romans  with  their 
families  settled  in  them,  and  were  called  colonies, 
while  the  Latin  people  themselves  became  Roman 
citizens  in  everything  but  the  power  of  becoming 
magistrates  or  voting  for  them,  being,  in  fact,  very 
much  what  the  earliest  plebeians  had  been  before 
they  acquired  any  rights. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE       SAMITE      WARS. 

IN  the  year  332,  just  when  Alexander  the  Great 
was  making  his  conquests  in  the  East,  his  uncle 
Alexander,  king  of  Epirus,  brother  to  his  mother 
Olympius,  came  to  Italy,  where  there  were  so  many 
Grecian  citizens  south  of  the  Samnites  that  the  foot 
of  Italy  was  called  Magna  Graecia,  or  Greater 
Greece.  He  attacked  the  Samnites,  and  the 
Romans  were  not  sorry  to  see  them  weakened,  and 
made  an  alliance  with  him.  He  stayed  in  Italy 
about  six  years,  and  was  then  killed. 

To  overthrow  the  Samnites  was  the  great  object 
of  Rome  at  this  time,  and  for  this  purpose  they 
offered  their  protection  and  alliance  to  all  the  cities 
that  stood  in  dread  of  that  people.     One  of  the 

cities  was  founded  by  men  from  the  isle  of  Euboea, 
13." 


136  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

who  called  it  Neapolis,  or  the  New  City,  to  distin- 
guish it  from  the  old  town  near  at  hand,  which  they 
called  Palseopolis,  or  the  Old  City.  The  elder  city 
held  out  against  the  Romans,  but  was  easily  over- 
powered, while  the  new  one  submitted  to  Rome  ; 
but  these  southern  people  were  very  shallow  .and 
fickle,  and  little  to  be  depended  on,  as  they  often 
changed  sides  between  the  Romans  and  Samnites. 
In  the  midst  of  the  siege  of  Palseopolis,  the  year  of 
the  consulate  came  to  an  end,  but  the  Senate,  while 
causing  two  consuls  as  usual  to  be  elected  at  home, 
would  not  recall  Publilius  Philo  from  the  siege,  and 
therefore  appointed  him  proconsul  there.  This  was 
in  326,  and  was  the  beginning  of  the  custom  of 
sending  the  ex-consul  as  proconsul  to  command  the 
armies  or  govern  the  provinces  at  a  distance  from 
home. 

In  320,  the  consul  falling  sick,  a  dictator  was  ap- 
pointed, Lucius  Papirius  Cursor,  one  of  the  most 
stern  and  severe  men  in  Rome.  He  was  obliged 
by  some  religious  ceremony  to  return  to  Rome  for 
a  time,  and  he  forbade  his  lieutenant,  Quintus 
Fabius  Rullianus,  to  venture  a  battle  in  his  ab- 
sence. But  so  good  an  opportunity  offered  that 
Fabius  attacked  the  enemy,  beat  them,  and  killed 
20,000  men.     Then  selfishly  unwilling  to  have  the 


Combat  between  a  mirmillo  and  a  samnitb. 


Combat  between  a  light-armed  gladiator  akd 
a  samnite. 


The  Samnite    Wars.  139 

spoils  he  had  won  carried  in  the  dictator's  triumph, 
he  burnt  them  all.  Papirius  arrived  in  great  anger, 
and  sentenced  him  to -death  for  his  disobedience; 
but  while  the  lictors  were  stripping  him,  he  con- 
trived to  escape  from  their  hands  among  the  sol- 
diers, who  closed  on  him,  so  that  he  was  able  to  get 
to  Rome,  where  his  father  called  the  Senate  to- 
gether, and  they  showed  themselves  so  resolved  to 
save  his  life  that  Papirius  was  forced  to  pardon 
him,  though  not  without  reproaching  the  Romans 
for  having  fallen  from  the  stern  justice  of  Brutus 
and  Manlius. 

Two  years  later  the  two  consuls,  Titus  Veturius 
and  Spurius  Posthumius,  were  marching  into  Cam- 
pania, when  the  Samnite  commander,  Pontius  He- 
rennius,  sent  forth  people  disguised  as  shepherds  to 
entice  them  into  a  narrow  mountain  pass  near  the 
city  of  Candium,  shut  in  by  thick  woods,  leading 
into  a  hollow  curved  valley,  with  thick  brushwood 
on  all  sides,  and  only  one  way  out,  which  the  Sam- 
nites  blocked  up  with  trunks  of  trees.  As  soon  as 
the  Romans  were  within  this  place  the  other  end 
was  blocked  in  the  same  way,  and  thus  they  were 
all  closed  up  at  the  mercy  of  their  enemies. 

"What  was  to  be  done  with  them  ?  asked  the 
Samnites ;  and  they  went  to  consult  old  Herennius, 


140  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

the  father  of  Pontius,  the  wisest  man  in  the  nation. 
"  Open  the  way  and  let  them  all  go  free,"  he  said. 

"What !  without  gaining  any  advantage  ?  " 

"  Then  kill  them  all." 

He  was  asked  to  explain  such  extraordinary  ad- 
vice. He  said  that  to  release  them  generously 
would  be  to  make  them  friends  and  allies  for  ever  ; 
but  if  the  war  was  to  go  on,  the  best  thing  for 
Samnium  would  be  to  destroy  such  a  number  of 
enemies  at  a  blow.  But  the  Samnites  could  not 
resolve  upon  either  plan;  so  they  took  a  middle 
course,  the  worst  of  all,  since  it  only  made  the  Ro- 
mans furious  without  weakening  them.  They  were 
made  to  take  off  all  their  armor  and  lay  down  their 
weapons,  and  thus  to  pass  out  under  the  yoke, 
namely,  three  spears  set  up  like  a  doorway.  The 
consuls,  after  agreeing  to  a  disgraceful  peace,  had 
to  go  first,  wearing  only  their  undermost  garment, 
then  all  the  rest,  two  and  two,  and  if  any  one  oi 
them  gave  an  angry  look,  he  was  immediately 
knocked  down  and  killed.  They  went  on  in  si- 
lence into  Campania,  where,  when  night  came  on, 
they  all  threw  themselves,  half-naked,  silent,  and 
hungry  upon  the  grass.  The  people  of  Capua  came 
out  to  help  them,  and  brought  them  food  and 
clothing,  trying  to  do  them  all  honor  and  comfort 


The  Samnite    Wars. 


141 


them,  but  they  would  neither  look  up  nor  speak. 
And  thus  they  went  on  to  Rome,  where  everybody 
had  put  on  mourning,  and  all  the  ladies  went  with- 
out their  jewels,  and  the  shops  in  the  Forum  were 


ii 


^OTW"""-*  -  — ,  ;SSE2T#tei 


ANCIENT   ROME. 


closed.  The  unhappy  men  stole  into  their  houses 
at  night  one  by  one,  and  the  consuls  would  not  re^ 
sume  their  office,  but  two  were  appointed  to  serve 
instead  for  the  rest  of  the  year. 


142  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Revenge  was  all  that  was  thought  of,  but  the 
difficulty  was  the  peace  to  which  the  consuls  had 
sworn.  Posthumius  said  that  if  it  was  disavowed 
by  the  Senate,  he,  who  had  been  driven  to  make  it, 
must  be  given  back  to  the  Samnites.  So,  with  his 
hands  tied,  he  was  taken  back  to  the  Samnite  camp 
by  a  herald  and  delivered  over ;  but  at  that  mo- 
ment Posthumius  gave  the  herald  a  kick,  crying 
out,  "  I  am  now  a  Samnite,  and  have  insulted  you, 
a  Roman  herald.  This  is  a  just  cause  of  war." 
Pontius  and  the  Samnites  were  very  angry,  and 
they  said  it  was  an  unworthy  trick ;  but  they  did 
not  prevent  Posthumius  from  going  safely  back  to 
the  Romans,  who  considered  him  to  have  quite  re- 
trieved his  honor. 

A  battle  was  fought,  in  which  Pontius  and  7000 
men  were  forced  to  lay  down  their  arms  and  pass 
under  the  yoke  in  their  turn.  The  struggle  be- 
tween these  two  fierce  nations  lasted  altogether 
seventy  years,  and  the  Romans  had  many  defeats. 
They  had  other  wars  at  the  same  time.  They 
never  subdued  Etruria,  and  in  the  battle  of  Senti- 
num,  fought  with  the  Gauls,  the  consul  Decius 
Mus,  devoted  himself  exactly  as  his  father  had  done 
at  Vesuvius,  and  b}r  his  death  won  the  victory. 

The  Samnite  wars  may  be  considered  as  ending 


The  Samnite    Wars. 


143 


in  290,  when  the  chief  general  of  Samnium,  Pon- 
tius Telesimus,  was  made  prisoner  and  put  to  death 
at  Rome.  The  lands  in  the  open  country  were 
quite  subdued,  but  many  Samnites  still  lived  in  the 
fastnesses  of  the  Apennines  in  the  south,  which 
have  ever  since  been  the  haunt  of  wild  untamed 
men. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE    WAR    WITH    PYRRHUS. 
B.C.  280—271. 

IN  the  Grecian  History  }tou  remember  that  Pyr- 
rhus,  king  of  Epirus,  the  townsman  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  made  an  expedition  to  Italy.  This  was 
the  way  it  came  abont.  The  city  of  Tarentum  was 
a  Spartan  colony  at  the  head  of  the  gulf  that  bears 
its  name.  It  was  as  proud  as  its  parent,  but  had 
lost  all  the  grave  sternness  of  manners,  and  was  as 
idle  and  fickle  as  the  other  places  in  that  languid 
climate.  The  Tarentines  first  maltreated  some 
Roman  ships  which  put  into  their  gulf,  and  then  in- 
sulted the  ambassador  who  was  sent  to  complain. 
Then  when  the  terrible  Romans  were  found  to  be 
really  coming  to  revenge  their  honor,  the  Taren- 
tines took  fright,  and  sent  to  beg  Pyrrhus  to  come 

to  their  aid. 

144 


The  War  with  Pyrrhus. 


145 


He  readily  accepted  the  invitation,  and  coming 
to  Italy  with  28,000  men  and  twenty  elephants, 
hoped  to  conquer  the  whole  countr}r ;  but  he  found 
the  Tarentines  not  to  be  trusted,  and  soon  weary 
of  entertaining  him,  while  they  could  not  keep  their 
promises  of  aid   from  the  other   Greeks   of  Italy. 

The  Romans  marched 
against  him,  and  there  was 
a  great  battle  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Siris,  where  the 
fighting  was  very  hard,  but 
when  the  elephants  charged 
the  Romans  broke  and  fled, 
and  were  only  saved  by 
nightfall  from  being  entire- 
ly  destroyed.  So  great, 
however,  had  been  Pyrrhus' 
loss  that  he  said,  "Such 
another  victory,  and  I  shall 
have  to  go  back  alone  to 
Epirus." 

He  thought  he  had  better  pyrrhus. 

treat  with  the  Romans,  and  sent  his  favorite  coun- 
sellor Kineas  to  offer  to  make  peace,  provided  the 
Romans  would  promise  safety  to  his  Italian  allies, 
and  presents  were  sent  to  the  senators  and  their 


146  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

wives  to  induce  them  to  listen  favorably.  People 
in  ancient  Greece  expected  such  gifts  to  back  a 
suit ;  but  Kineas  found  that  nobody  in  Rome  would 
hear  of  being  bribed,  though  many  were  not  un- 
willing to  make  peace.  Blind  old  Appius  Claudius, 
who  had  often  been  consul,  caused  himself  to  be 
led  into  the  Senate  to  oppose  it,  for  it  was  hard  to 
his  pride  to  make  peace  as  defeated  men.  Kineas 
was  much  struck  with  Rome,  where  he  found  a 
state  of  things  like  the  best  days  of  Greece,  and, 
going  back  to  his  master,  told  him  that  the  senate- 
house  was  like  a  temple,  and  those  who  sat  there 
like  an  assembly  of  kings,  and  that  he  feared  they 
were  fighting  with  the  Hydra  of  Lerna,  for  as  soon 
as  they  had  destroyed  one  Roman  army  another 
had  sprung  up  in  its  place. 

However,  the  Romans  wanted  to  treat  about  the 
prisoners  Pyrrhus  had  taken,  and  they  sent  Caius 
Fabricius  to  the  Greek  camp  for  the  purpose. 
Kineas  reported  him  to  be  a  man  of  no  wealth,  but 
esteemed  as  a  good  soldier  and  an  honest  man. 
Pyrrhus  tried  to  make  him  take  large  presents,  but 
nothing  would  Fabricius  touch;  and  then,  in  the 
hope  of  alarming  him,  in  the  middle  of  a  conversa- 
tion the  hangings  of  one  side  of  the  tent  suddenly 
fell,  and  disclosed  the  biggest  of  all  the  elephants, 


The  War  with  Pyrrhus. 


14T 


who  waved  his  trunk  over  Fabricius  and  trumpeted 
frightfully.  The  Roman  quietly  turned  round  and 
smiled  as  he  said  to  the  king,  "  I  am  no  more  moved 
by  your  gold  than  by  your  great  beast." 

At  supper  there  was  a  conversation  on  Greek 
philosophy,  of  which  the   Romans   as  yet   knew 


ROMAN    OKATOK. 


nothing.  When  the  doctrine  of  Epicurus  was  men- 
tioned, that  man's  life  was  given  to  be  spent  in  the 
pursuit  of  joy,  Fabricius  greatly  amused  the  com- 
pany by  crying  out,  "  O  Hercules  !  grant  that  the 


148  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Greeks  may  be  heartily  of  this  mind  so  long  as  we 
have  to  fight  with  them." 

Pyrrhus  even  tried  to  persuade  Fabricius  to  enter 
his  service,  but  the  answer  was,  "  Sir,  I  advise  you 
not ;  for  if  your  people  once  tasted  of  my  rule,  they 
would  all  desire  me  to  govern  them  instead  of  you.'" 
Pyrrhus  consented  to  let  the  prisoners  go  home, 
but,  if  no  peace  were  made,  they  were  to  return 
again  as  soon  as  the  Saturnalia  were  over ;  and 
this  was  faithfully  done.  Fabricius  was  consul  the 
next  year,  and  thus  received  a  letter  from  Pyrrhus' 
physician,  offering  for  a  reward  to  rid  the  Romans 
of  his  master  by  poison.  The  two  consuls  sent  it 
to  the  king  with  the  following  letter  :  —  "  Caius 
Fabricius  and  Quintus  ^milius,  consuls,  to  Pyr- 
rhus, king,  greeting.  You  choose  your  friends  and 
foes  badly.  This  letter  will  show  that  you  make 
war  with  honest  men  and  trust  rogues  and  knaves. 
We  tell  you,  not  to  win  your  favor,  but  lest  your 
ruin  might  bring  on  the  reproach  of  ending  the  war 
by  treachery  instead  of  force." 

Pyrrhus  made  enquiry,  put  the  physician  to 
death,  and  by  way  of  acknowledgment  released  the 
captives,  trying  again  to  make  peace ;  but  the 
Romans  would  accept  no  terms  save  that  he  should 
give  up  the  Tarentines  and  go  back  in  the  same 


The  War   With  Pyrrhus.  149 

ships.  A  battle  was  fought  iu  the  wood  of  As- 
culum.  Decius  Mus  declared  he  would  devote 
himself  like  his  father  and  grandfather ;  but  Pyr- 
hus  heard  of  this,  and  sent  word  that  he  had  given 
orders  that  Decius  shoidd  not  be  killed,  but  taken 
alive  and  scourged  ;  and  this  prevented  him.  The 
Romans  were  again  forced  back  by  the  might  of 
the  elephants,  but  not  till  night  fell  on  them. 
Pyrrhus  had  been  wounded,  and  hosts  of  Greeks 
had  fallen,  among  them  many  of  Pyrrhus'  chief 
friends. 

He  then  went  to  Sicily,  on  an  invitation  from 
the  Greeks  settled  there,  to  defend  them  from  the 
Carthaginians ;  but  finding  them  as  little  satisfac- 
tory as  the  Italian  Greeks,  he  suddenly  came  back 
to  Tarentum.  This  time  one  of  the  consuls  was 
Marcus  Curius  —  called  Dentatus,  because  he  had 
been  born  with  teeth  in  his  mouth  —  a  stout,  plain 
old  Roman,  very  stern,  for  when  he  levied  troops 
against  Pyrrhus,  the  first  man  who  refused  to  serve 
was  punished  by  having  his  property  seized  and 
sold.  He  then  marched  southward,  and  at  Bene- 
ventum  at  length  entirely  defeated  Pyrrhus,  and 
took  four  of  his  elephants.  Pyrrhus  was  obliged 
to  return  to  Epirus,  and  the  Roman  steadiness  had 
won  the  day  after  nine  years. 


150  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Dentatus  had  the  grandest  triumph  that  had  ever 
been  known  at  Rome,  with  the  .elephants  walking 
in  the  procession,  the  first  that  the  Romans  had 
ever  seen.  All  the  spoil  was  given  up  to  the  com- 
monwealth ;  and  when,  some  time  after,  it  was 
asserted  that  he  had  taken  some  for  himself,  it 
turned  out  that  he  had  only  kept  one  old  wooden 
vessel,  which  he  used  in  sacrificing  to  the  gods. 

The  Greeks  of  Southern  Italy  had  behaved  very 
ill  to  Pyrrhus  and  turned  against  him.  The  Ro- 
mans found  them  so  fickle  and  troublesome  that 
they  were  all  reduced  in  one  little  war  after  an-' 
other.  The  Tarentines  had  to  surrender  and  lose 
their  walls  and  their  fleet,  and  so  had  the  people  of 
Sybaris,  who  have  become  a  proverb  for  idleness, 
for  they  were  so  lazy  that  they  were  said  to  have 
killed  all  their  crowing-birds  for  waking  them  too 
early  in  the  morning.  All  the  peninsula  of  Italy 
now  belonged  to  Rome,  and  great  roads  were  made 
of  paved  stones  connecting  them  with  it,  many  of 
which  remain  to  this  day,  even  the  first  of  all, 
called  the  Appian  Way,  from  Rome  to  Capua, 
which  was  made  under  the  direction  of  the  censor 
Appius  Claudius,  during  the  Samnite  war. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE  FIRST  PUNIC   ¥AB. 

264—240. 

A  \  7E  are  now  come  to  the  time  when  Rome  be* 
»  »  came  mixed  up  in  wars  with  nations  beyond 
Italy.  There  was  a  great  settlement  of  the  Phoe- 
nicians, the  merchants  of  the  old  world,  at  Car- 
thage, on  the  northern  coast  of  Africa,  the  same 
place  at  which  Virgil  afterwards  described  iEneas 
as  spending  so  much  time.  Dido,  the  queen  who 
was  said  to  have  founded  Carthage  when  fleeing 
from  her  wicked  brother-in-law  at  Tyre,  is  thought 
to  have  been  an  old  goddess,  and  the  religion  and 
manners  of  the  Carthaginians  were  thoroughly 
Phoenician,  or,  as  the  Romans  called  them,  Punic. 
They  had  no  king,  but  a  Senate,  and  therewith 
rulers  called  by  the  name  that  is  translated  as 
151 


152  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

judges  in  the  Bible ;  and  they  did  not  love  war, 
only  trade,  and  spread  out  their  settlements  for  this 
purpose  all  over  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean, 
from  Spain  to  the  Black  Sea,  wherever  a  country 
had  mines,  wool,  dyes,  spices,  or  men  to  trade  with ; 
and  their  sailors  were  the  boldest  to  be  found  any- 
where, and  were  the  only  ones  who  had  passed  be- 
yond the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  namely,  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar,  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  They  built 
handsome  cities,  and  country  houses  with  farms 
and  gardens  round  them,  and  had  all  tokens  of 
wealth  and  luxury  —  ivory,  jewels,  and  spices  from 
India,  pearls  from  the  Persian  Gulf,  gold  from 
Spain,  silver  from  the  Balearic  Isles,  tin  from  the 
Scilly  Isles,  amber  from  the  Baltic ;  and  they  had 
forts  to  protect  their  settlements.  They  generally 
hired  the  men  of  the  countries,  where  they  settled, 
to  fight  their  battles,  sometimes  under  hired  Greek 
captains,  but  often  under  generals  of  their  own. 

The  first  place  where  they  did  not  have  every- 
thing their  own  way  was  Sicily.  The  old  inhabi- 
tants of  the  island  were  called  Sicels,  a  rough  peo- 
ple ;  but  besides  these  there  were  a  great  number 
of  Greek  settlements,  also  of  Carthaginian  ones, 
and  these  two  hated  one  another.  The  Cartha- 
ginians tried  to  overthrow  the  Greeks,  and   Pyr- 


The  First  Punic  War.  155 

rhus,  by  coming  to  help  his  countrymen,  only  made 
them  more  bitter  against  one  another.  When  he 
went  away  he  exclaimed,  "  What  an  arena  we 
leave  for  the  Romans  and  Carthaginians  to  contend 
upon !  "  so  sure  was  he  that  these  two  great  nations 
must  soon  fight  out  the  struggle  for  power. 

The  beginning  of  the  struggle  was,  however, 
brought  on  by  another  cause.  Messina,  the  place 
bounded  loDsr'  ago  by  the  brave  exiles  of  Messene, 
when  the  Spartans  had  conquered  their  state,  had 
been  seized  by  a  troop  of  Mamertines,  fierce  Italians 
from  Mamertum ;  and  these,  on  being  threatened 
by  Xiero,  king  of  Syracuse,  sent  to  offer  to  become 
subjects  to  the  Romans,  thus  giving  them  the  com- 
mand of  the  port  which  secured  the  entrance  of  the 
island.  The  Senate  had  great  scruples  about  ac- 
cepting the  offer,  and  supporting  a  set  of  mere  rob- 
bers ;  but  the  two  consuls  and  all  the  people  could 
not  withstand  the  temptation,  and  it  was  resolved 
to  assist  the  Mamertines.  Thus  began  what  was 
called  the  First  Punic  War.  The  difficulty  was, 
however,  want  of  ships.  The  Romans  had  none 
of  their  own,  and  though  they  collected  a  few  from 
their  Greek  allies  in  Italy,  it  was  not  in  time  to 
prevent  some  of  the  Mamertines  from  surrendering 
the  citadel  to   Xanno,  the    Carthaginian   general, 


156  Young  Folks'  History  of  Mon>.«, 

who  thought  himself  secure,  and  came  down  to 
treat  with  the  Roman  tribune  Claudius,  haughtily 
bidding  the  Romans  no  more  to  try  to  meddle  with 
the  sea,  for  they  should  not  be  allowed  so  much  as 
to  wash  their  hands  in  it.  Claudius,  angered  at 
this,  treacherously  laid  hands  on  Xanno,  and  he 
agreed  to  give  up  the  castle  on  being  set  free ;  but 
he  had  better  have  remained  a  prisoner,  for  the 
Carthaginians  punished  him  with  crucifixion,  and 
besieged  Messina,  but  in  vain. 

The  Romans  felt  that  a  fleet  was  necessary,  and 
set  to  work  to  build  war  galleys  on  the  pattern  of  a 
Carthaginian  one  which  had  been  wrecked  upon 
their  coast.  While  a  hundred  ships  were  building, 
oarsmen  were  trained  to  row  on  dry  land,  and  in 
two  months  the  fleet  put  to  sea.  Knowing  that 
there  was  no  chance  of  being  able  to  fight  accord- 
ing to  the  regular  rules  of  running  the  beaks  of 
their  galleys  into  the  sides  of  those  of  their  enemies, 
they  devised  new  plans  of  letting  heavy  weights  de- 
scend on  the  ships  of  the  opposite  fleet,  and  then  of 
letting  drawbridges  down  by  which  to  board  them. 
The  Carthaginians,  surprised  and  dismayed,  when 
thus  attacked  off  Mylse  by  the  consul  Duilius,  were 
beaten  and  chased  to  Sardinia,  where  their  unhappy 
commander  was  nailed  to  a  cross  by  his  own  sol- 


The  First  Punic  War.  157 

diers;  while  Duilius  not  only  received  in  Rome  a 
grand  triumph  for  his  first  naval  victory,  but  it  was 
decreed  that  he  should  never  go  out  into  the  city  at 
night  without  a  procession  of  torch-bearers. 

The  Romans  now  made  up  their  minds  to  send 
an  expedition  to  attack  the  Carthaginian  power  not 
only  in  Sicily  but  in  Africa,  and  this  was  placed 
under  the  command  of  a  sturdy  plebeian  consul, 
Marcus  Attilius  Regulus.  He  fought  a  great  bat- 
tle with  the  Carthaginian  fleet  on  his  way,  and  he 
had  even  more  difficulty  with  his  troops,  who  greatly 
dreaded  the  landing  in  Africa  as  a  place  of  unknown 
terror.  He  landed,  however,  at  some  distance 
from  the  city,  and  did  not  at  once  advance  on  it. 
When  he  did,  according  to  the  story  current  at 
Rome,  he  encountered  on  the  banks  of  the  River 
Bagrada  an  enormous  serpent,  whose  poisonous 
breath  killed  all  who  approached  it,  and  on  whose 
scales  darts  had  no  effect.  At  last  the  machines 
for  throwing  huge  stones  against  city  walls  were  used 
against  it ;  its  backbone  was  broken,  and  it  was  at 
last  killed,  and  its  skin  sent  to  Rome. 

The  Romans  met  other  enemies,  whom  they  de- 
feated, and  gained  much  plunder.  The  Senate, 
understanding  that  the  Carthaginians  were  cooped 
up  within  their  walls,  recalled  half  the  army.     Re- 


158  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome, 

gulus  wished  much,  to  return,  as  the  slave  who 
tilled  his  little  farm  had  run  away  with  his  plough, 
and  his  wife  was  in  distress ;  but  he  was  so  valu- 
able that  he  could  not  be  recalled,  and  he  remained 
and  soon  took  Tunis.  The  Carthaginians  tried  to 
win  their  gods'  favor  back  by  offering  horrid  human 
sacrifices  to  Moloch  and  Baal,  and  then  hired  a 
Spartan  general  named  Xanthippus,  who  defeated 
the  Romans,  chiefly  by  means  of  the  elephants,  and 
made  Regulus  prisoner.  The  Romans,  who  hated 
the  Carthaginians  so  much  as  to  believe  them  capa- 
ble of  any  wickedness,  declared  that  in  their  jeal- 
ousy of  Xanthippus'  victory,  they  sent  him  home  to 
Greece  in  a  vessel  so  arranged  as  to  founder  at  sea. 
However,  the  Romans,  after  several  disasters  in 
Sicily,  gained  a  great  victory  near  Panormus,  cap- 
turing one  hundred  elephants,  which  were  brought 
to  Rome  to  be  hunted  by  the  people  that  they  might 
lose  their  fear  of  them.  The  Carthaginians  were 
weakened  enough  to  desire  peace,  and  they  sent 
Regulus  to  propose  it,  making  him  swear  to  return 
if  he  did  not  succeed.  He  came  to  the  outskirts  of 
the  city,  but  would  not  enter.  He  said  he  was  no 
Roman  pro-consul,  but  the  slave  of  Carthage. 
However,  the  Senate  came  out  to  hear  him,  and  he 
gave   the   message,   but  added  that  the   Romans 


Pliips»l8:M 


KOIU.N  ORDER  OF  BATTLE. 


The  First  Punic  War.  161 

ought  not  to  accept  these  terms,  but  to  stand  out 
for  much  better  ones,  giving  such  reasons  that  the 
whole  people  was  persuaded.  He  was  entreated  to 
remain  and  not  meet  the  angry  men  of  Carthage  ; 
but  nothing  would  persuade  him  to  break  his  word, 
and  he  went  back.  The  Romans  told  dreadful 
stories  of  the  treatment  he  met  with  —  how  his 
eyelids  were  cut  off  and  he  was  put  in  the  sunshine, 
and  at  last  he  was  nailed  up  in  a  barrel  lined  with 
spikes  and  rolled  down  hill.  Some  say  that  this 
was  mere  report,  and  that  Carthaginian  prisoners 
at  Rome  were  as  savagely  treated  ;  but  at  any  rate 
the  constancy  of  Regulus  has  always  been  a  prov- 
erb. 

The  war  went  on,  and  one  of  the  proud  Claudius 
family  was  in  command  at  Trepan um,  in  Sicily, 
when  the  enemy's  fleet  came  in  sight.  Before  a 
battle  the  Romans  always  consulted  the  sacred 
fowls  that  were  carried  with  the  army.  Claudius 
was  told  that  their  augury  was  against  a  battle  — 
they  would  not  eat.  "  Then  let  them  drink,"  he 
cried,  and  threw  them  into  the  sea.  His  impiety,  as 
all  felt  it,  was  punished  by  an  utter  defeat,  and  he 
killed  himself  to  avoid  an  enquiry.  The  war  went 
on  by  land  and  sea  all  over  and  around  Sicily,  till 
at  the  end  of  twenty-four  years  peace  was  made, 


162  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

just  after  another  great  sea-fight,  in  which  Rome 
had  the  victory.  She  made  th3  Carthaginians  give 
up  all  they  held  in  Sicily,  restore  their  prisoners, 
make  a  large  payment,  and  altogether  humble  their 
claims  ;  thus  beginning  a  most  bitter  hatred  towards 
the  conquerors,  who  as  greatly  hated  and  despised 
them.     Thus  ended  the  First  Punic  War. 


CHAPTER     XVIII. 

CONQUEST    OF    CISALPINE   GAUL. 
240—219. 

AFTER  the  end  of  the  Punic  war,  Carthage 
fell  into  trouble  with  her  hired  soldiers,  and 
did  not  interfere  with  the  Romans  for  a  long  time, 
while  they  went  on  to  arrange  the  government  of 
Sicily  into  what  they  called  a  province,  which  was 
ruled  by  a  propreetor  for  a  year  after  his  magistracy 
at  home.  The  Greek  kingdom  of  Syracuse  indeed 
still  remained  as  an  ally  of  Rome,  and  Messina  and 
a  few  other  cities  were  allowed  to  choose  their  own 
magistrates  and  govern  themselves. 

Soon  after,  Sardinia  and  Corsica  were  given  up 
to  the  Romans  by  the  hired  armies  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians, and  as  the    natives   fought  hard  against 
Rome,  when  they  were  conquered  they  were  for  the 
163 


164  Young  Folks'  History  of  Home. 

most  part  sold  as  slaves.     These  two  islands  like- 
wise had  a  propraetor. 

The  Romans  now  had  all  the  peninsula  south  of 
themselves,  and  as  far  north  as  Ariminim  (now 
shortened  into  Rimini),  but  all  beyond  belonged  to 
the  Gauls  —  the  Cisalpine  Gauls,  or  Gauls  on  this 
side  the  Alps,  as  the  Romans  called  them ;  while 
those  on  the  other  side  were  called  Transalpine 
Gauls,  or  Gauls  across  the  Alps.  These  northern 
Gauls  were  gathering  again  for  an  inroad  on  the 
south,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  rumors  of  this  danger 
there  was  a  great  thunderstorm  at  Rome,  and  the 
Capitol  was  struck  by  lightning.  The  Sybilline 
books  were  searched  into  to  see  what  this  might 
mean,  and  a  warning  was  found,  "  Beware  of  the 
Gauls."  Moreover,  there  was  a  saying  that  the 
Greeks  and  Gauls  should  one  day  enjoy  the  Forum ; 
but  the  Romans  fancied  they  could  satisfy  this 
prophecy  by  burying  a  man  and  woman  of  eaoh 
nation,  slaves,  in  the  middle  of  the  Forum,  and  then 
they  prepared  to  attack  the  Gauls  in  their  own  coun- 
try before  the  inroad  could  be  made.  There  was 
a  great  deal  of  hard  fighting,  lasting  for  years ;  and 
in  the  course  of  it  the  consul,  Cains  Flaminius,  be- 
gan the  great  road  which  has  since  been  called  after 
him  the  Flaminian  Way,  and  was  the  great  north- 


Conquest  of  Cisalpine  Gaul. 


165 


ern  road  from  Rome,  as  the  Appian  Way  was  the 
southern. 

The  great  hero  of  the  war  was  Marcus  Claudius 
Marcellus,  who  had  already  made  himself  known 
for  his  dauntless  courage.     As  consul,  he  fought  a 


THE   WOUNDED   GAUL. 


desperate  battle  on  the  banks  of  the  Po  with  the 
Gauls  of  both  sides  the  Alps,  and  himself  killed 
their  king  or  chief,  Viridomar.  He  brought  the 
spoils  to  Rome,  and  hung  them  in  the  Temple  of 
Jupiter.  It  was  only  the  third  time  in  the  history 
of  Rome  that  such  a  thing  had  been  done.  Cisal- 
pine Gaul  was  thus  subdued,  and  another  road  was 


166  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

made  to  secure  it ;  while  in  the  short  peace  that 
followed  the  gates  of  the  Temple  of  Janus  were 
shut,  having  stood  open  ever  since  the  reign  of 
Numa. 

The  Romans  were  beginning  to  make  their  wor- 
ship the  same  with  that  of  the  Greeks.  They  sent 
offerings  to  Greek  temples,  said  that  their  old  gods 
were  the  same  as  those  of  the  Greeks,  only  under 
different  names,  and  sent  an  embassy  to  Epidaurus 
to  ask  for  a  statue  of  Esculapius,  the  god  of  medi 
cine  and  son  of  Phoebus  Apollo.  The  emblem  oi 
Esculapius  was  a  serpent,  and  tame  serpents  were 
kept  about  his  temple  at  Epidaurus.  One  of  these 
glided  into  the  Roman  galley  that  had  come  for 
the  statue,  and  it  was  treated  with  great  respect  by 
all  the  crew  until  they  sailed  up  the  Tiber,  when  it 
made  its  way  out  of  the  vessel  and  swam  to  the 
island  which  had  been  formed  by  the  settling  of  the 
mud  round  the  heap  of  corn  that  had  been  thrown 
into  the  river  when  Porsena  wasted  the  countr}r. 
This  was  supposed  to  mean  that  the  god  himself 
took  possession  of  the  place,  and  a  splendid  temple 
there  rose  in  his  honor. 

Another  imitation  of  the  Greeks  which  came 
into  fashion  at  this  time  had  a  sad  effect  on  the 
Romans.     The  old    funerals   in    Greek   poems  had 


Conquest  of  Cisalpine  Caul.  167 

ended  by  games  and  struggles  between  swordsmen. 
Two  brothers  of  the  Brutus  family  first  showed  off 
such  a  game  at  their  father's  funeral,  and  it  became 
a  regular  custom,  not  only  at  funerals,  but  when- 
ever there  was  need  to  entertain  the  people,  to 
show  off  fights  of  swordsmen.  The  soldier  captives 
from  conquered  nations  were  used  in  this  way ; 
and  some  persons  kept  schools  of  slaves,  who  were 
trained  for  these  fights  and  called  gladiators.  The 
battle  was  a  real  one,  with  sharp  weapons,  for  life 
or  death ;  and  when  a  man  was  struck  down,  he 
was  allowed  to  live  or  sentenced  to  death  according 
as  the  spectators  turned  down  or  turned  up  their 
thumbs.  The  Romans  fancied  that  the  sight  trained 
them  to  be  brave,  and  to  despise  death  and  wounds 
but  the  truth  was  that  it  only  made  them  hard 
hearted,  and  taught  them  to  despise  other  people's 
pain  —  a  very  different  thing  from  despising  their 
own. 

Another  thing  that  did  great  harm  was  the  mak- 
ing it  lawful  for  a  man  to  put  away  a  wife  who  had 
no  children.  This  ended  by  making  the  Romans 
much  less  careful  to  have  one  good  wife,  and  the 
Roman  ladies  became  much  less  noble  and  excellent 
than  they  had  been  in  the  good  old  days. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Carthaginians,  having  lost 


1.68  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

the  three  islands,  began  to  spread  their  settlements 
further  in  Spain,  where  their  chief  colony  was  New 
Carthage,  or,  as  we  call  it,  Carthagena.  The  moun- 
tains were  full  of  gold  mines,  and  the  Iberians,  the 
nation  who  held  them,  were  brave  and  warlike,  so 


HAinSTIBAL  S    VOW. 


that  there  was  much  fighting  to  train  up  fresh 
armies.  Hamilcar,  the  chief  general  in  command 
there,  had  four  sons,  whom  he  said  were  lion  whelps 
being  bred  up  against  Rome.  He  took  them  with 
him  to  Spain,  and  at  a  great  sacrifice  for  the  success 


Conquest  of  Cisalpine  Gaul.  169 

of  his  arms  the  youngest  and  most  promising,  Han- 
nibal, a  boy  of  nine  years  old,  was  made  to  lay  his 
hand  on  the  altar  of  Baal  and  take  an  oath  that  he 
would  always  be  the  enemy  of  the  Romans.  Ham- 
ilcar  was  killed  in  battle,  but  Hannibal  grew  up  to 
be  all  that  he  had  hoped,  and  at  twenty-six  was  in 
command  of  the  army.  He  threatened  the  Iberians 
of  Saguntum,  who  sent  to  ask  help  from  Rome. 
A  message  was  sent  to  him  to  forbid  him  to  disturb 
the  ally  of  Rome  ;  but  he  had  made  up  his  mind 
for  war,  and  never  even  asked  the  Senate  of  Car- 
thage what  was  to  be  done,  but  went  on  with  the 
siege  of  Saguntum.  Rome  was  busy  with  a  war  in 
Illyria,  and  could  send  no  help,  and  the  Saguntines 
held  out  with  the  greatest  bravery  and  constancy, 
month  after  month,  till  they  were  all  on  the  point 
of  starvation,  then  kindled  a  great  fire,  slew  all 
their  wives  and  children,  and  let  Hannibal  win 
nothing  but  a  pile  of  smoking  ruins. 

Again  the  Romans  sent  to  Carthage  to  complain, 
but  the  Senate  there  had  made  up  their  minds  that 
war  there  must  be,  and  that  it  was  a  good  time 
when  Rome  had  a  war  in  Illyria  on  her  hands,  and 
Cisalpine  Gaul  hardly  subdued  ;  and  they  had  such 
a  general  as  Hannibal,  though  they  did  not  know 
what   a    wonderful    scheme    he   had   in   his  mind, 


170 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


namely,  to  make  his  way  by  land  from  Spain  to 
Italy,  gaining  the  help  of  the  Gauls,  and  stirring 
up  all  those  nations  of  Italy  who  had  fought  so 
long  against  Rome.  His  march,  which  marks  the 
beginning  of  the  Second  Punic  War,  started  from 


IN    THE    PYRENEES. 


the  banks  of  the  Ebro  in  the  beginning  of  the  sum- 
mer of  219.  His  army  was  20,000  foot  and  12,000 
horse,  partly  Carthaginian,  partly  Gaul  and  Iberian. 
The  horsemen  were  Moorish,  and  he  had  thirty- 
seven  elephants.  He  left  his  brother  Hasdrubal 
with  10,000  men  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees  and 


Conquest  of  Cisalpine  Gaul. 


171 


pushed  on,  but  he  could  not  reach  the  Alps  before 
the  late  autumn,  and  his  passage  is  one  of  the  great- 
est wonders  of  history.  Roads  there  were  none, 
and  he  had  to  force  his  way  up  the  passes  of  the 
Little  St.  Bernard  through  snow  and  ice,  terrible  to 
the  men  and  animals  of  Africa,  and  fighting  all  the 
way,  so  that  men  and  horses  perished  in  great  num- 
bers, and  only  seven  of  the  elephants  were  left  when 
he  at  length  descended  into  the  plains  of  Northern 
Italy,  where  he  hoped  the  Cisalpine  Gauls  would 
welcome  him. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE    SECOND    PUNIC    WAR. 

219. 

WHEN  the  Romans  heard  that  Hannibal  had 
passed  the  Pyrenees,  they  had  two  armies 
on  foot,  one  under  Publius  Cornelius  Scipio,  which 
was  to  go  to  Spain,  and  the  other  binder  Tiberius 
Sempronius  Longus,  to  attack  Africa.  They 
changed  their  plan,  and  kept  Sempronius  to  defend 
Italy,  while  Scipio  went  by  sea  to  Marsala,  a  Greek 
colony  in  Gaul,  to  try  to  stop  Hannibal  at  the 
Rhone  ;  but  he  was  too  late,  and  therefore,  sending 
on  most  of  his  army  to  Spain,  he  came  back  him- 
self with  his  choicest  troops.  With  these  he  tried 
to  stop  the  enemy  from  crossing  the  river  Ticinus, 
but  he  was  defeated  and  so  badly  wounded  that  his 
life  was  only  saved  by  the  bravery  of  his  son,  who 
led  him  out  of  the  battle. 

172 


The  Second  Punic    War.  175 

Before  ne  was  able  to  join  the  army  again,  Sem- 
pronius  had  fought  another  battle  with  Hannibal 
on  the  banks  of  the  Trebia  and  suffered  a  terrible 
defeat.  But  winter  now  came  on,  and  the  Cartha- 
ginians found  it  very  hard  to  bear  in  the  marshes 
of  the  Arno.  Hannibal  himself  was  so  ill  that  he 
only  owed  his  life  to  the  last  of  his  elephants,  which 
carried  him  safely  through  when  he  was  almost 
blind,  and  in  the  end  he  lost  an  eye.  In  the  spring 
he  went  on  ravaging  the  country  in  hopes  to  make 
the  two  new  consuls,  Flaminius  and  Servilius,  fight 
with  him,  but  they  were  too  cautious,  until  at  last 
Flaminius  attacked  him  in  a  heavy  fog  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Trasimenus.  It  is  said  that  an  earth- 
quake shook  the  ground,  and  that  the  eager  war- 
riors never  perceived  it ;  but  again  the  Romans 
lost,  Flaminius  was  killed,  and  there  was  a  dread- 
ful slaughter,  for  Hannibal  had  sworn  to  give  no 
cpuarter  to  a  Roman.  The  only  thing  that  was 
hopeful  for  Rome  was  that  neither  Gauls,  Etrus- 
cans, nor  Italians  showed  any  desire  to  rise  in  favor 
of  Hannibal ;  and  though  he  was  now  very  near 
Rome,  he  durst  not  besiege  it  without  the  help  of 
the  people  around  to  bring  him  supplies,  so  he  only 
marched  southwards,  hoping  to  gain  the  support  of 
the    Greek   colonies.     A   dictator   was   appointed, 


176  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Quintus  Fabius  Maximus,  who  saw  that,  by 
strengthening  all  the  garrisons  in  the  towns  and 
cutting  off  all  provisions,  he  should  wear  the  enemy 
out  at  last.  As  he  always  put  off  a  battle,  he  was 
called  Cunctator,  or  the  Delayer  ;  but  at  last  he 
had  the  Carthaginians  enclosed  as  in  a  trap  in  the 
valley  of  the  river  Vulturnus,  and  hoped  to  cnt 
them  off,  posting  men  in  ambush  to  fall  on  them  on 
their  morning's  march.  Hannibal  guessed  that  this 
must  be  the  plan  ;  and  at  night  he  had  the  cattle 
in  the  camp  collected,  fastened  torches  to  their 
horns,  and  drove  them  up  the  hills.  The  Romans, 
fancying  themselves  surrounded  by  the  enemy, 
came  out  of  their  hiding-places  to  fall  back  on  the 
camp,  and  Hannibal  and  his  army  safely  escaped. 
This  mischance  made  the  Romans  weary  of  the 
Delayer's  policy,  and  when  the  year  was  out,  and 
two  consuls  came  in,  though  one  of  them,  Lucius 
iEmilius  Paulus,  would  have  gone  on  in  the  same 
cautious  plan  of  starving  Hannibal  out  without  a 
battle,  the  other,  Caius  Terentius  Varro,  who  com- 
manded on  alternate  days  with  him,  was  determined 
on  a  battle.  Hannibal  so  contrived  that  it  was 
fought  on  the  plain  of  Cannse,  where  there  was 
plenty  of  space  to  use  his  Moorish  horse.  It  was 
Varro 's  day  of  command,  and   he  dashed    at  the 


The  Second  Punic    War.  177 

centre  of  the  enemy ;  Hannibal  opened  a  space 
for  him,  then  closed  in  on  both  sides  with  his 
terrible  horse,  and  made  a  regular  slaughter  of  the 
Romans.  The  last  time  that  the  consul  JEmilius 
was  seen  was  by  a  tribune  named  Lentulus,  who 
found  him  sitting  on  a  stone  faint  and  bleeding, 
and  would  have  given  him  his  own  horse  to  escape, 
but  TEmilius  answered  that  he  had  no  mind  to  have 
to  accuse  his  comrade  of  rashness,  and  had  rather 
die.  A  troop  of  enemies  coming  up,  Lentulus  rode 
off,  and  looking  back,  saw  his  consul  fall,  pierced 
with  darts.  So  many  Romans  had  been  killed,  that 
Hannibal  sent  to  Carthage  a  basket  containing 
10,000  of  the  gold  rings  worn  by  the  knights. 

Hannibal  was  only  five  days'  march  beyond 
Rome,  and  his  officers  wanted  him  to  turn  back  and 
attack  it  in  the  first  shock  of  the  defeat,  but  he 
could  not  expect  to  succeed  without  more  aid  from 
home,  and  he  wanted  to  win  over  the  Greek  cities 
of  the  south ;  so  he  wintered  in  Campania,  waiting 
for  the  fresh  troops  he  expected  from  Africa  or 
from  Spain,  where  his  brother  Mago  was  preparing 
an  army.  But  the  Carthaginians  did  not  care 
about  Hannibal's  campaigns  in  Italy,  and  sent  no 
help  ;  and  Publius  Cornelius  Scipio  and  his  brother, 
with  a  Roman  army  in  Spain,  were  watching  Mago 


178  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

and  preventing  him  from  marching,  until  at  last  he 
gave  them  battle  and  defeated  and  killed  them 
both.  But  he  was  not  allowed  to  go  to  Italy  to 
his  brother,  who,  in  the  meantime,  found  his  army 
so  unstrung  and  ill-disciplined  in  the  delightful  but 
languid  Campania,  that  the  Romans  declared  the' 
luxuries  of  Capua  were  their  best  allies.  He 
stayed  in  the  south,  however,  trying  to  gain  the 
alliance  of  the  king  of  Macedon,  and  stirring  up 
Syracuse  to  revolt.  Marcellus,  who  was  consul  for 
the  third  time,  was  sent  to  reduce  the  city,  which 
made  a  famous  defence,  for  it  contained  Archimedes, 
the  greatest  mathematician  of  his  time,  who  devised 
wonderful  machines  for  crushing  the  besiegers  in 
unexpected  ways;  but  at  last  Marcellus  found  a 
weak  part  of  the  walls  and 
surprised  the  citizens.  He 
had  given  orders  that  Archi- 
medes should  be  saved,  but  a 
soldier  broke  into  the  philoso- 
pher's room  without  knowing 
him,  and  found  him  so  intent 
on  his  study  that  he  had  never 
archimedes.  heard  the  storming  of  the  city. 

The  man   brandished    his   sword.      "Only  wait," 
muttered  Archimedes,  "  till  I  have  found  out  my 


The  Second  Punic    War.  179 

problem ; "  but  the  man,  not  understanding  him, 
killed  hirn. 

Hannibal  remained  in  Italy,  maintaining  himself 
there  with  wonderful  skill,  though  with  none  of  the 
hopes  with  which  he  had  set  out.  His  brother 
Hasdrubal  did  succeed  in  leaving  Spain  with  an 
army  to  help  him,  but  was  met  on  the  river  Metaurus 
by  Tiberius  Claudius  Nero,  beaten,  and  slain.  His 
head  was  cut  off  by  Nero's  order,  and  thrown  into 
Hannibal's  camp  to  give  tidings  of  his  fate. 

Young  Scipio,  meantime,  had  been  sent  to  Spain, 
where  he  gained  great  advantages,  winning  the 
friendship  of  the  Iberians,  and  gaining  town  after 
town  till  Mago  had  little  left  but  Gades  and  the 
extreme  south.  Scipio  was  one  of  the  noblest  of 
the  Romans,  brave,  pious,  and  what  was  more  un- 
usual, of  such  sweet  and  winning  temper,  that  it 
was  said  of  him  that  wherever  he  went  he  might 
have  been  a  king. 

On  returning  to  Rome,  he  showed  the  Senate 
that  the  best  way  to  get  Hannibal  out  of  Italy  was 
to  attack  Africa.  Cautious  old  Fabius  doubted, 
but  Scipio  was  sent  to  Sicily,  where  he  made  an  ah 
liance  with  Massinissa,  the  Moorish  king  in  Africa ; 
and,  obtaining  leave  to  carry  out  his  plan,  he  was 
sent  thither,  and  so  alarmed  Carthage,  that  Hanni 


180 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


bal  was  recalled  to  defend  his  own  country,  where 
he  had  not  been  since  he  was  a  child.  A  great 
battle  took  place  at  Zama  between  him  and  Han- 
nibal, in  which  Scipio  was  the  conqueror,  and  the 
loss  of  Carthage  was  so  terrible  that  the  Romans 
were  ready  to  .have  marched  in  on  her  and  made 
her  their  subject,  but  Scipio  persuaded  them  to  be 
forbearing.  Carthage  was  to  pay  an  immense 
tribute,  and  swear  never  to  make  Avar  on  any  ally 
of  Rome.  And  thus  ended  the  Second  Punic  War, 
in  the  year  201. 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE   FIRST    EASTERN"   WAR. 
215—183. 

SCIPIO  remained  in  Africa  till  he  had  arranged 
matters  and  won  such  a  claim  to  Massinissa's 
gratitude  that  this  king  of  Xumidia  was  sure  to 
watch  over  the  interests  of  Rome.  Scipio  then 
returned  home,  and  entered  Rome  with  a  grand 
triumph,  all  the  nobler  for  himself  that  he  did  not 
lead  Hannibal  in  his  chains.  He  had  been  too 
generous  to  demand  that  so  brave  an  enemy  should 
be  delivered  up  to  him.  He  received  the  surname 
of  Africanus,  and  was  one  of  the  most  respected 
and  beloved  of  Romans.  He  was  the  first  who  be- 
gan to  take  up  Greek  learning  and  culture,  and  to 
-exchange  the  old  Roman  ruggedness  for  the  graces 
of  philosophy  and  poetry.  Indeed  the  Romans 
1S1 


1 82  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

were  beginning  to  have  much  to  do  with  the 
Greeks,  and  the  war  they  entered  upon  now  was 
the  first  for  the  sake  of  spreading  their  own  power. 
All  the  former  ones  had  been  in  self-defence,  and 
the  new  one  did  in  fact  spring  out  of  the  Punic 
war,  for  the  Carthaginians  had  tried  to  persuade 
Philip,  king  of  Macedon,  to  follow  in  the  track  of 
Pyrrhus,  and  come  and  help  Hannibal  in  Southern 
Italy.  The  Romans  had  kept  him  off  by  stirring 
up  the  robber  iEtolians  against  him  ;  and  when  he 
began  to  punish  these  wild  neighbors,  the  Romans 
leagued  themselves  with  the  old  Greek  cities  which 
Macedon  oppressed,  and  a  great  war  took  place. 

Titus  Quinctius  Flaminius  commanded  in  Greece 
for  four  years,  first  as  consul  and  then  as  proconsul. 
His  crowning  victory  was  at  Cynocephalse,  or  the 
Dogshead  Rocks,  where  he  so  broke  the  strength 
of  Macedon  that  at  the  Isthmian  games  he  pro- 
claimed the  deliverance  of  Greece,  and  in  their  joy 
the  people  crowded  round  him  with  crowns  and 
garlands,  and  shouted  so  loud  that  birds  in  the  air 
were  said  to  have  dropped  down  at  the  sound. 

Macedon  had  cities  in  Asia  Minor,  and  the  king 
of  Syria's  enemy,  Antiochus  the  Great,  hoped  to 
master  them,  and  even  to  conquer  Greece  by  the 
help  of  Hannibal,  who  had  found  himself  unable  to 


The  First  Eastern  War.  183 

live  in  Carthage  after  his  defeat,  and  was  wander- 
ing about  to  give  his  services  to  any  one  who  was 
a  foe  of  Rome. 

As  Rome  took  the  part  of  Philip,  as  her  subject 
and  ally,  there  was  soon  full  scope  for  his  efforts ; 
but  the  Syrians  were  such  wretched  troops  that 
even  Hannibal  could  do  nothing  with  them,  and 
the  king  himself  would  not  attend  to  his  advice, 
but  wasted  his  time  in  pleasure  in  the  isle  of  Eu- 
boea.  So  the  consul  Acilius  first  beat  them  at 
Thermopylae,  and  then,  on  Lucins  Cornelius  Scipio 
being  sent  to  conduct  the  war,  his  great  brother 
Africanus  volunteered  to  go  with  him  as  his  lieu- 
tenant, and  together  they  followed  Antiochus  into 
Asia  Minor,  and  gained  such  advantages  that  the 
Syrian  was  obliged  to  sue  for  peace.  The  Romans 
replied  by  requiring  of  him  to  give  up  all  Asia 
Minor  as  far  as  Mount  Tarsus,  and  in  despair  he 
risked  a  battle  in  Magnesia,  and  met  with  a  total 
defeat ;  80,000  Greeks  and  Syrians  being  over- 
thrown by  50,000  Romans.  Neither  Africanus  nor 
Hannibal  were  present  in  this  battle,  since  the  first 
was  ill,  and  the  second  was  besieged  in  a  city  in 
Pamphylia  ;  but  while  terms  of  peace  were  being 
made,  the  two  are  said  have  met  on  friendly  terms, 
and   Scipio  asked   Hannibal  whom  he  thought  the 


184 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Home. 


greatest  of  generals.  "Alexander,"  was  the  answer. 
"  Whom  the  next  greatest  ?  "  "  Pyrrhus."  "Whom 
do  you  rank  as  the  third  ?  "  "  Myself,"  said  Han- 
nibal. "  But  if  you  had  beaten  me  ? "  asked 
Scipio.  "  Then  I  would  have  placed  myself  before 
Alexander." 


The  Romans  insisted  that  Hannibal  should  be 
dismissed  by  Antiochus,  though  Scipio  declared  that 
this  was  ungenerous ;  but  they  dreaded  his  never- 
ceasing  enmity  ;  and  when  he  took  refuge  with  the 
king  of  Bothnia,  they  still  required  that  he  should 
be  giveri  up  or  driven  away.     On  this,  Hannibal, 


The  First  Eastern    War.  185 

Wv)JiivOut  and  disappointed,  put  an  end  to  his  own 
life  by  poison,  saying  he  would  rid  the  Romans  of 
their  fear  of  an  old  man. 

The  provinces  taken  from  Antiochus  were  given 
to  Eumenes,  king  of  Pergamus,  who  was  to  reign 
over  them  as  tributary  to  the  Romans.  Lucius 
Scipio  received  the  surname  of  Asiaticus,  and  the 
two  brothers  returned  to  Rome  ;  but  they  had  been 
too  generous  and  merciful  to  the  conquered  to  suit 
the  grasping  spirit  that  had  begun  to  prevail  at 
Rome,  and  directly  after  his  triumph  Lucius  was 
accused  of  having  taken  to  himself  an  undue  share 
of  the  spoil.  His  brother  was  too  indignant  at  the 
shameful  accusation  to  think  of  letting  him  justify 
himself,  but  tore  up  his  accounts  in  the  face  of  the 
people.  The  tribune,  Naevius,  thereupon  spitefully 
called  upon  him  to  give  an  account  of  the  spoil  of 
Carthage  taken  twenty  years  before.  The  only  re- 
ply he  gave  was  to  exclaim,  "  This  is  the  day  of 
the  victory  of  Zama.  Let  us  give  thanks  to  the 
gods  for  it;"  and  he  led  all  that  was  noble  and 
good  in  Rome  with  him  to  the  temple  of  Jupiter 
and  offered  the  anniversary  sacrifice.  No  one 
durst  say  another  word  against  him  or  his  brother  ; 
but  he  did  not  choose  to  remain  among  the  citizens 
who  had  thus  insulted  him,  but  went  away  to  his; 


186  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

estate  at  Liternum,  and  when  he  died,  desired  to  be 
buried  there,  saying  that  he  would  not  even  leave 
his  bones  to  his  ungrateful  country.  The  Cornelian 
family  was  the  only  one  among  the  higher  Romans 
who  buried  instead  of  burning  their  dead.  He  left 
no  son,  only  a  daughter,  who  was  married  to  Ti- 
berius Sempronius  Gracchus,  a  brave  officer  who 
was  among  those  who  were  sent  to  finish  reducing 
Spain.  It  was  a  long,  terrible  war,  fought  city  by 
city,  inch  by  inch ;  but  Gracchus  is  said  to  have 
taken  no  less  than  three  hundred  fortresses.  But 
he  was  a  milder  conqueror  than  some  of  the  Ro- 
mans, and  tried  to  tame  and  civilize  the  wild  races 
instead  of  treating  them  with  the  terrible  severity 
shown  by  Marcus  Porcius  Cato,  the  sternest  of  all 
old  Romans.  However,  by  the  year  178  Spain 
had  been  reduced  to  obedience,  and  the  cities  and 
the  coast  were  in  good  order,  though  the  mountains 
harbored  fierce  tribes  always  ready  for  revolt. 

Gracchus  died  early,  and  Cornelia,  his  widow, 
devoted  herself  to  the  cause  of  his  three  children, 
refusing  to  be  married  again,  which  was  very  un- 
common in  a  Roman  lady.  When  a  lady  asked  her 
to  show  her  her  ornaments,  she  called  her  two  boys, 
Tiberius  and  Caius,  and  their  sister  Sempronia,  and 
said,  "  These  are  my  jewels ; "  and  when  she  was 


The  First  Eastern  War.  187 

complimented  on  being  the  daughter  of  Africanus, 
she  said  that  the  honor  she  should  care  more  for 
was  the  being  called  "the  mother  of  the  Gracchi.'" 
It  was  not,  however,  one  of  her  sons  that  was 
chosen  to  carry  on  their  grandfather's  name  and 
the  sacrifices  of  the  Cornelian  family.  Probably 
Cams  was  not  born  when  Scipio  died,  for  his  choice 
had  been  the  second  son  of  his  sister  and  of  Lucius 
iEmilius  Paulus  (son  of  him  who  died  at  Cannae.) 
This  child  being  adopted  by  his  uncle,  was  called 
Publius  Cornelius  Scipio  iEmilianus,  and  when  he 
grew  up  was  to  marry  his  cousin  Sempronia. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

THE    CONQUEST    OF    GEEECE,    CORINTH,    AND 

CARTHAGE. 

179—145. 

IT  was  a  great  change  when  Rome,  which  to  the 
Greeks  of  Pyrrhus'  time  had  seemed  so  rude 
and  simple,  was  thought  such  a  school  of  policy 
that  Greek  and  half-Greek  kings  sent  their  sons  to 
be  educated  there,  partly  as  hostages  for  their  own 
peaceableness,  and  partly  to  learn  the  spirit  of 
Roman  rule.  The  first  king  who  did  this  was 
Philip  of  Macedon,  who  sent  his  son  Demetrius  to 
be  brought  up  at  Rome ;  but  when  he  came  back, 
his  father  and  brother  were  jealous  of  him,  and  he 
was  soon  put  to  death. 

When  his  brother  Perseus  came  to  the  throne, 
there  was  hatred  between  him  and  the  Romans,  and 

ere  long  he  was  accused   of  making  war  on  their 
188 


The    Conquest  of  Greece.  189 

allies.  He  offered  to  make  peace,  but  they  replied 
that  they  would  hear  nothing  till  he  had  laid  down 
his  arms,  and  this  he  would  not  do,  so  that  Lucius 
iEmilius  Paulus  (the  brother-in-law  of  Scipio)  was 
sent  to  reduce  him.  As  iEmilius  came  into  his 
own  house  after  receiving  the  appointment,  he  met 
his  little  daughter  crying,  and  when  he  asked  her 
what  was  the  matter,  she  answered,  "  Oh,  father, 
Perseus  is  dead  !  "  She  meant  her  little  dog,  but 
he  kissed  her  and  thanked  her  for  the  good  omen. 
He  overran  Macedon,  and  gained  the  great  battle 
of  Pydna,  after  which  Perseus  was  obliged  to  give 
himself  up  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans,  begging, 
however,  not  to  be  made  to  walk  in  iEmilius'  tri- 
umph. The  general  answered  that  he  might  obtain 
that  favor  from  himself,  meaning  that  he  could  die 
by  his  own  hand  ;  but  Perseus  did  not  take  the 
hint,  which  seems  to  us  far  more  shocking  than  it 
did  to  a  Roman  ;  he  did  walk  in  the  triumph,  and 
died  a  few  years  after  in  Italy.  JEmilius'  two  sons 
were  with  him  throughout  this  campaign,  though 
still  boys  under  Polybius,  their  Achaian  tutor. 
Macedon  was  divided  into  four  provinces,  and  be- 
came entirely  subject  to  Rome. 

The  Greeks  of  the  Achaian  League  began  to  have 
quarrels  among  themselves,  and  when  the  Romans 


190 


Young  Folks'   History   of  Rome. 


interfered  a  fierce  spirit  broke  out,  and  they  wanted 
to  have  their  old  freedom,  forgetting  how  entirely 
unable  they  were  to  stand  against  the  power  of  the 
Romans.  Caius  Caecilius  Metellus,  a  man  of  one  of 
the  best  and  most  gracious  Roman  families,  was 
patient  with  them  and  did  his  best  to  pacify  them,, 
being;  most  unwilling  to  rain  the  noble  old  historical 
cities ;   but  these  foolish  Greeks  fancied  that   his 


kindness  showed  weakness,  and  forced  on  the  war, 
sending  a  troop  to  guard  the  pass  of  Thermopylae, 
but  they  were  swept  away.  Unfortunately,  Metel- 
lus had  to  go  out  of  office,  and  Lucius  Mummius,  a 
fierce,  rude,  and  ignorant  soldw,  came  in  his  stead 
to  complete  the  conquest.  Corinth  was  taken,  ut- 
terly ruined  and  plundered  throughout,  and  a  huge 


Conquest  of  Corinth  and  Carthage.         191 

amount  of  treasure  was  sent  to  Rome,  as  well  as 
pictures  and  statues  famed  all  over  the  world. 
Mummius  was  very  much  laughed  at  for  having 
been  told  they  must  be  carried  in  his  triumph  ;  and 
yet,  not  understanding  their  beauty,  he  told  the 
sailors  to  whose  charge  they  were  given,  that  if  they 
were  lost,  new  ones  must  be  supplied.  However, 
he  was  an  honest  man,  who  did  not  help  himself 
out  of  the  plunder,  as  far  too  many  were  doing. 
After  that,  Achaia  was  made  a  Roman  province. 

At  this  time  the  third  and  last  Punic  war  was 
going  on.  The  old  Moorish  king,  Massinissa,  had 
been  continually  tormenting  Carthage  ever  since 
she  had  been  weak,  and  declaring  that  Phoenician 
strangers  had  no  business  in  Africa.  The  Cartha- 
ginians, who  had  no  means  of  defending  themselves, 
complained ;  but  the  Romans  would  not  listen, 
hoping,  perhaps,  that  they  would  be  goaded  at  last 
into  attacking  the  Moor,  and  thus  giving  a  pretext 
for  a  war.  Old  Marcus  Porcius  Cato,  who  was 
sent  on  a  message  to  Carthage,  came  back  declaring 
that  it  was  not  safe  to  let  so  mighty  a  city  of  ene- 
mies stand  so  near.  He  brought  back  a  branch  of 
figs  fresh  and  good,  which  he  showed  the  Senate  in 
proof  of  how  near  she  was,  and  ended  each  sen- 
tence with  saying,  "Delenda  est  Carthago"  (Car- 


192  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

tliage  is  to  be  wiped  out).  He  died  that  same  year 
at  ninety  years  old,  having  spent  most  of  his  life  in 
making  a  staunch  resistance  to  the  easy  and  lux- 
urious fashions  that  were  coming  in  with  wealth 
and  refinement.  One  of  his  sayings  always  de- 
serves to  be  remembered.  When  he  was  opposing, 
a  law  giving  permission  to  the  ladies  to  wear  gold 
and  purple,  he  said  they  would  all  be  vying  with 
one  another,  and  that  the  poor  would  be  ashamed  of 
not  making  as  good  an  appearance  as  the  rich. 
"And,"  said  he,  "  she  who  blushes  for  doing  what 
she  ought,  will  soon  cease  to  blush  for  doing  what 
she  ought  not." 

One  wonders  he  did  not  see  that  to  have  no 
enemy  near  at  hand  to  guard  against  was  the  very 
worst  thing  for  the  hardy,  plain  old  ways  he  was 
so  anxious  to  keep  up.  However,  Carthage  was  to 
be  wiped  out,  and  Scipio  ^Emilianus  was  sent  to  do 
the  terrible  work.  He  defeated  Hasdrubal,  the 
last  of  the  Carthaginian  generals,  and  took  the  cit- 
adel of  Byrsa ;  but  though  all  hope  was  over,  the 
city  held  out  in  utter  desperation.  Weapons  were 
forged  out  of  household  implements,  even  out  of 
gold  and  silver,  and  the  women  twisted  their  long 
hair  into  bow-strings ;  and  when  the  walls  were 
stormed,  they  fought  from  street  to  street  and  house 


Conquest  of  Corinth  and  Carthage.         193 

to  house,  so  that  the  Romans  gained  little  but  ruins 
and  dead  bodies.  Carthage  and  Corinth  fell  on  the 
same  day  of  the  year  179. 

Part  of  Spain  still  had  to  be  subdued,  and  Scipio 
iEmilianus  was  sent  thither.  The  city  of  Numan- 
tia,  with  only  5000  inhabitants,  endured  one  of 
those  long,  hopeless  sieges  for  which  Spanish  cities 
have  in  all  times  been  remarkable,  and  was  only 
taken  at  last  when  almost  every  citizen  had  per- 
ished. 

At  the  same  time,  Attalus,  king  of  Pergamus  in 
Asia  Minor,  being  the  last  of  his  race,  beqeathed 
his  dominions  to  the  Romans,  and  thus  gave  them 
their  first  solid  footing  there. 

All  this  was  altering  Roman  manners  much. 
Weak  as  the  Greeks  were,  their  old  doings  of  every 
kind  were  still  the  admiration  of  every  one,  and 
the  Romans,  who  had  alwa}"s  heen  rough,  straight- 
forward doers,  began  to  wish  to  learn  of  them  to 
think.  All  the  wealthier  families  had  Greeks  for 
tutors  for  their  sons,  and  expected  them  to  talk  and 
write  the  language,  and  study  the  philosophy  and 
poetry  till  they  should  be  as  familiar  with  it  as  if 
they  were  Greeks  themselves.  Unluckily,  the 
Greeks  themselves  had  fallen  from  their  earnest- 
ness and  greatness,  so  that  there  was  not  much  to 


194  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

be  learnt  of  them  now  but  vain  deceit  and  bad 
taste. 

Rich  Romans,  too,  began  to  get  most  absurdly 
luxurious.  They  had  splendid  villas  on  the  Italian 
hill-sides,  where  they  went  to  spend  the  summer 
when  Rome  was  unhealthy,  and  where  they  had 
beautiful  gardens,  with  courts  paved  with  mosaic, 
and  fish-ponds  for  the  pet  fish  for  which  many  had 
a  passion.  One  man  was  laughed  at  for  having 
shed  tears  when  his  favorite  fish  died,  and  he  re- 
torted by  saying  that  it  was  more  than  his  accuser 
had  done  for  his  wife. 

Their  feasts  were  as  luxurious  as  they  could 
make  them,  in  spite  of  laws  to  keep  them  within 
bounds.  Dishes  of  nightingales'  tongues,  of  fatted 
dormice,  and  even  of  snails,  were  among  their  food ; 
and  sometimes  a  stream  was  made  to  flow  along 
the  table,  containing  the  living  companion  of  the 
mullet  which  served  as  part  of  the  meal. 


CHAPTER     XXII. 

THE   GRACCHI. 
137—122. 

"\/"OUNG    Tiberius   Sempronius    Gracchus,  the 

■*-       eldest  of  Cornelia's  jewels,  was  sent  in  the 

year  137  to  join  the  Roman  army  in  Spain.     As  he 

went  through   Etruria,  which,  as  every  one  knew, 

had  been  a  thickly  peopled,  fertile  country  in  old 

times,  he  was  shocked   to    see   its    dreariness  and 

desolation.     Instead  of  farms  and  vineyards,  there 

were  great  bare  spaces  of  land,  where  sheep,  kids, 

or  goats  were  feeding.     These  vast  tracts  belonged 

to  Romans,  who  kept  slaves  co  attend  to  the  flocks  ; 

while  all  the   corn  that  was  used  in  Rome  came 

from  Sicily  or  Africa,  and  the  poorer  Romans  lived 

in    the    city  itself — idle  men,   chiefly  trusting  to 

distributions  of  corn,  and  unable  to  work  for  them- 
195 


196 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


selves  because  they  had  no  ground  to  till ;  and  as 
to  trades  and  handicrafts,  the  rich  men  had  every- 
thing they  wanted  made  in  their  own  houses  by 
their  slaves. 

No  wonder  the    Romans   were  losing  their  old 


CORNELIA  AND    HER    SONS. 


character.  This  was  the  very  thing  that  the  Li- 
cinian  law  had  been  intended  to  prevent,  by  for- 
bidding any  citizen  to  have  more  than  a  certain 
quantity  of  land,  and  giving  the  state  the  power  of 
resuming  it.     The  law  was  still  there,  but  it  had 


The    Gracchi.  197 

been  disused  and  forgotten  ;  estates  had  been 
gathered  into  the  hands  of  families  and  handed 
down,  till  now,  though  there  were  400,000  citizens, 
only  2,000  were  men  of  property. 

While  Tiberius  was  serving  in  Spain,  he  decided 
on  his  plan.  As  his  family  was  plebeian,  he  could 
be  a  tribune  of  the  people,  and  as  soon  as  he  came 
home  he  stood  and  was  elected.  Then  he  proposed 
reviving  the  Licinian  law,  that  nobody  should  have 
more  than  500  acres,  and  that  the  rest  should  be 
divided  among  those  who  had  nothing,  leaving, 
however,  a  larger  portion  to  those  who  had  many 
children. 

There  was,  of  course,  a  terrible  uproar ;  the  popu- 
lace clamoring  for  their  rights,  and  the  rich  trying 
to  stop  the  measure.  They  bribed  one  of  the  other 
tribunes  to  forbid  it :  but  there  was  a  fight,  in 
which  Tiberius  prevailed,  and  he  and  his  young 
brother  Caius,  and  his  father-in-law  Appius  Clau- 
dius, were  appointed  as  triumvers  to  see  the  law 
carried  out.  Then  the  rich  men  followed  their  old 
plan  of  spreading  reports  among  the  people  that 
Tiberius  wanted  to  make  himself  a  king,  and  had 
accepted  a  crown  and  purple  robe  from  some  foreign 
envoy.  When  his  year  of  office  was  coming  to  an 
end,  he  sought  to  be  elected  tribune  again,  but  the 


198  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

patricians  said  it  was  against  the  law.  There  was 
a  great  tumult,  in  the  course  of  which  he  put  his 
hand  to  his  head,  either  to  guard  it  from  a  blow  or 
to  beckon  his  friends.  "  He  demands  the  diadem," 
shouted  his  enemies,  and  there  was  a  great  strug- 
gle, in  which  three  hundred  people  were  killed. 
Tiberius  tried  to  take  refuge  in  the  Temple  of 
Jupiter,  but  the  doors  were  closed  against  him;  he 
stumbled,  was  knocked  down  with  a  club,  and 
killed. 

However,  the  Sempronian  law  had  been  made, 
and  the  people  wanted,  of  course,  to  have  it  carried 
out,  while  the  nobles  wanted  it  to  be  a  dead  letter. 
Scipio  iEmilianus,  the  brother-in-law  of  the  Gracchi, 
had  been  in  Spain  all  this  time,  but  he  had  so  much 
disapproved  of  Tiberius'  doings  that  he  was  said  to 
have  exclaimed,  on  hearing  of  his  death,  "  So  perish 
all  who  do  the  like."  But  when  he  came  home,  he 
did  so  much  to  calm  and  quiet  matters,that  there  was 
a  cry  to  make  him  Dictator,  and  let  him  settle  the 
whole  matter.  Young  Caius  Gracchus,  who  thought 
the  cause  would  thus  be  lost,  tried  to  prevent  the 
choice  by  fixing  on  him  the  name  of  tyrant.  To 
which  Scipio  calmly  replied,  "  Rome's  enemies  may 
well  wish  me  dead,  for  they  know  that  while  I  live 
Rome  cannot  perish." 


The    Gracchi.  199 

When  he  went  home,  he  shut  himself  into  his 
room  to  prepare  his  discourse  for  the  next  day,  but 
in  the  morning  he  was  found  dead,  without  a  wound, 
though  his  slaves  declared  he  had  been  murdered. 
Some  suspected  bis  wife  Sempronia,  others  even 
her  mother  Cornelia,  but  the  Senate  would  not 
have  the  matter  enquired  into.  He  left  no  child, 
and  the  Africanus  line  of  Cornelius  ended  with 
him. 

Cains  Gracchus  was  nine  years  younger  than  his 
brother,  and  was  elected  tribune  as  soon  as  he  was 
old  enough.  He  was  full  of  still  greater  schemes 
than  his  brother.  His  mother  besought  him  to  be 
warned  by  his  brother's  fate,  but  he  was  bent  on 
his  objects,  and  carried  some  of  them  out.  He  had 
the  Sempronian  law  reaffirmed,  though  he  could 
not  act  on  it ;  but  in  the  meantime  he  began  a 
regular  custom  of  having  corn  served  out  to  the 
poorer  citizens,  and  found  work  for  them  upon 
roads  and  bridges ;  also  he  caused  the  state  to 
clothe  the  soldiers,  instead  of  their  doing  it  at  their 
own  expense.  Another  scheme  which  he  first  pro- 
posed was  to  make  the  Italians  of  the  countries  now 
one  with  Roman  territory  into  citizens,  with  votes 
like   the    Romans    themselves :  but   this  again  an- 


200  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

gered  the  patricians,  who  saw  they  should  he 
swamped  by  numbers  and  lose  their  power. 

He  also  wanted  to  found  a  colony  of  plebeians 
on  the  ruins  of  Carthage,  and  when  his  tribuneship 
was  over  he  went  to  Africa  to  see  about  it ;  but 
when  he  came  home  the  patricians  had  arranged  an 
attack  on  him,  and  he  was  insulted  by  the  lictor  of 
the  consul  Opimius.  The  patricians  collected  on 
one  side,  the  poorer  sort  around  Caius  on  the 
Aventine  Hill ;  but  the  nobles  were  the  strongest, 
the  plebeians  fled,  and  Caius  withdrew  with  one 
slave  into  a  sacred  grove,  whence  he  hoped  to  reach 
the  Tiber ;  but  the  wood  was  surrounded,  his  re- 
treat was  cut  off,  and  he  commanded  the  slave  to 
kill  him  that  he  might  not  fall  alive  into  the  hands 
of  his  enemies,  after  which  the  poor  faithful  fellow 
killed  himself,  unable  to  bear  the  loss  of  his  master. 
The  weight  of  Caius'  head  in  gold  had  been  prom- 
ised by  the  Senate,  and  tlie  man  who  found  the 
body  was  said  to  have  taken  out  the  brains  and 
filled  it  up  with  lead  that  his  reward  might  be 
larger.  Three  thousand  men  were  killed  in  this 
riot,  ten  times  as  many  as  at  Tiberius'  death. 

Opimius  was  so  proud  of  having  overthrown 
Caius,  that  he  had  a  medal  struck  with  Hercules 
slaying   the    monsters.      Cornelia,    broken-hearted, 


The    Gracchi 


201 


retired  to  a  country-house  ;  but  in  a  few  years  the 
feeling  turned,  great  love  was  shown  to  the  memory 
of  the  two  brothers,  statues  were  set  up  in  their 
honor,  and  when  Cornelia  herself  died,  her  statue 
was  inscribed  with  the  title  she  had  coveted,  "  The 
mother  of  the  Gracchi.*' 

Things  were  indeed  growing  worse  and  worse. 


ROMAN    CENTURION. 


The  Romans  were  as  brave  as  ever  in  the  field,  and 
were  sure  in  the  end  to  conquer  any  nation  they  came 
in  contact  with  ;  but  at  home,  the  city  was  full  of 
overgrown  rich  men,  with  huge  hosts  of  slaves,  and 
of  turbulent  poor  men,  who  only  cared  for  their 


202  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

citizenship  for  the  sake  of  the  corn  they  gained  by 
it,  and  the  games  exhibited  by  those  who  stood  for 
a  magistracy.  Immense  sums  were  spent  in  hiring 
gladiators  and  bringing  wild  animals  to  be  baited 
for  their  amusement ;  and  afterwards,  when  sent 
out  to  govern  the  provinces,  the  expenses  were  re- 
paid by  cruel  grinding  and  robbing  the  people  of 
the  conquered  states. 


CHAPTER    XXIIL 

THE    WARS    OF    MARIUS. 

106—98. 

AFTER  the  death  of  Massinissa,  king  of  Nu- 
miclia,  the  ally  of  the  Romans,  there  were 
disputes  among  his  grandsons,  and  Jugurtha,  whom 
they  held  to  have  the  least  right,  obtained  the 
kingdom.  The  commander  of  the  army  sent 
against  him  was  Caius  Marius,  who  had  risen  from 
being  a  free  Roman  peasant  in  the  village  of  Ar- 
pinum,  but  serving  under  Scipio  ^Emilianus,  had 
shown  such  ability,  that  when  some  one  was  won- 
dering where  they  would  find  the  equal  of  Scipio 
when  he  was  gone,  that  general  touched  the  shoul- 
der of  his  young  officer  and  said,  "  Possibly  here." 
Rough  soldier  as  he  always  was,  he  married  Julia, 

of  the  high  family  of  the  Caesars,  who  were  said  to 
203 


204  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

be  descended  from  JEneas ;  and  though  he  was 
much  disliked  by  the  Senate,  he  always  carried  the 
people  with  him.  When  he  received  the  province 
of  Numidia,  instead  of,  as  every  one  had  done  be- 
fore, forming  his  army  only  of  Roman  citizens,  he 
offered  to  enlist  whoever  would,  and  thus  filled  his 
ranks  with  all  sorts  of  wild  and  desperate  men, 
whom  he  could  indeed  train  to  fight,  but  who  had 
none  of  the  old  feeling  for  honor  or  the  state,  and 
this  in  the  end  made  a  great  change  in  Rome. 

Jugurtha  maintained  a  wild  war  in  the  deserts  of 
Africa  with  Marius,  but  at  last  he  was  betraj^ed  to 
the  Romans  by  his  friend  Bocchus,  another  Moorish 
king,  and  Lucius  Cornelius  Sulla,  Marius'  lieuten- 
ant, was  sent  to  receive  him  —  a  transaction  which 
Sulla  commemorated  on  a  signet  ring  which  he  al- 
ways wore.  Poor  Jugurtha  was  kept  two  years  to 
appear  at  the  triumph,  where  he  walked  in  chains, 
and  then  was  thrown  alive  into  the  dungeon  under 
the  Capitol,  where  he  took  six  days  to  die  of  cold 
and  hunger. 

Marius  was  elected  consul  for  the  second  time 
even  before  he  had  quite  come  home  from  Africa, 
for  it  was  a  time  of  great  danger.  Two  fierce  and 
terrible  tribes,  whom  the  Romans  called  Cimbri 
and  Teutones,  and  who  were  but  the  vanguard  of 


The  War  of  Marius. 


205 


the  swarms  who  would  overwhelm  them  six  cen- 
turies later,  had  come  down  through  Germany  to 
the  settled  countries  belonging  to  Rome,  especially 
the  lands  round  the  old  Greek  settlements  in  Gaul, 
which  had  fallen  of  course  into  the  hands  of  the 
Romans,  and  were  full  of  beautiful  rich  cities,  with 


MARIUS. 

houses  and  gardens  round  them.  The  Province, 
as  the  Romans  called  it,  would  have  been  grand 
plundering  ground  for  these  savages,  and  Marius 
established  himself  in  a  camp  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rhone  to  protect  it,  cutting  a  canal  to  bring  his 
provisions  from  the  sea,  which  still  remains.  While 
he  was  thus  engaged,  he  was  a  fourth  time  elected 
consul. 


206  Young  Folks    History  of  Rome. 

The  enemy  began  to  move.  The  Cimbri  meant 
to  march  eastward  round  the  Alps,  and  pour 
through  the  Tyrol  into  Italy  ;  the  Teutones  to  go 
by  the  West,  fighting  Marius  on  the  way.  But  he 
would  not  come  out  of  his  camp  on  the  Rhone, 
though  the  Teutones,  as  they  passed,  shouted  to 
ask  the  Roman  soldiers  what  messages  they  had  to 
send  to  their  wives  in  Italy. 

When  they  had  all  passed,  he  came  out  of  his 
camp  and  followed  thein  as  far  as  Aquae  Sextise, 
now  called  Aix,  where  one  of  the  most  terrible  bat- 
tles the  world  ever  saw  was  fought.  These  people 
were  a  whole  tribe  —  wives,  children,  and  every- 
thing they  had  with  them  —  and  to  be  defeated 
was  utter  and  absolute  ruin.  A  great  enclosure 
was  made  with  their  carts  and  wagons,  whence  the 
women  threw  arrows  and  darts  to  help  the  men ; 
and  when,  after  three  days  of  hard  fighting,  all 
hope  was  over,  they  set  fire  to  the  enclosure  and 
killed  their  children  and  themselves.  The  whole 
swarm  was  destroyed.  Marius  marched  away,  and 
no  one  was  left  to  bury  the  dead,  so  that  the  spot 
was  called  the  Putrid  Fields,  and  is  still  known  as 
Les  Pourrieres. 

While  Marius  was  offering  up  the  spoil,  tidings 
came  that  he  was  a  fifth  time  chosen  consul :  but 


ONE    OF    THE    TROPHIES,    CALLED    OF    MARIUS,    AT 
THE    CAPITOL    AT    ROME. 


The  Wars  of  Marius.  209 

he  had  to  hasten  into  Italy,  for  the  other  consul, 
Catulus,  could  not  stand  before  the  Cimbri,  and 
Marius  met  him  on  the  Po  retreating  from  them. 
The  Cimbri  demanded  lands  in  Italy  for  themselves 
and  their  allies  the  Teutones.  "  The  Teutones 
have  all  the  ground  they  will  ever  want,  on  the 
other  side  the  Alps,"  said  Marius  ;  and  a  terrible 
battle  followed,  in  which  the  Cimbri  were  as  en- 
tirely cut  off  as  their  allies  had  been. 

Marius  was  made  consul  a  sixth  time.  As  a  re- 
ward to  the  brave  soldiers  who  had  fought  under 
him,  he  made  one  thousand  of  them,  who  came 
from  the  city  of  Camerinum,  Roman  citizens,  and 
this  the  patricians  disliked  greatly.  His  excuse  was, 
"  The  din  of  arms  drowned  the  voice  of  the  law ;  " 
but  the  new  citizens  were  provided  for  by  lands  in 
the  Province,  which  the  Romans  said  the  Gauls 
had  lost  to  the  Teutones  and  they  had  reconquered. 
It  was  venr  hard  on  the  Gauls,  but  that  was  the 
last  thing  a  Roman  cared  about. 

The  Italians,  however,  were  all  crying  out  for 
the  rights  of  Romans,  and  the  more  far-sighted 
among  the  Romans  would,  like  Caius  Gracchus, 
have  granted  them.  Marcus  Livius  Drusus  did  his 
best  for  them  ;  he  was  a  good  man,  wise  and  frank- 
hearted.  When  he  was  having  a  house  built,  and 
the  plan  was  shown  him  which  would  make  it  im- 


210  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

possible  for  any  one  to  see  into  it,  he  said,  "  Rather 
build  one  where  my  fellow-countrymen  may  see 
all  I  do."  He  was  very  much  loved,  and  when  he 
was  ill,  prayers  were  offered  at  the  temples  for  his 
recovery ;  but  no  sooner  did  he  take  up  the  cause 
of  the  Italians  than  all  the  patricians  hated  him 
bitterly.  "  Rome  for  the  Romans,"  was  their 
watchword.  Drusus  was  one  day  entertaining  an 
Italian  gentleman,  when  his  little  nephew,  Marcus 
Porcius  Cato,  a  descendant  of  the  old  censor,  and 
bred  in  stern  patrician  views,  was  playing  about 
the  room.  The  Italian  merrily  asked  him  to  favor 
his  cause.  "  No,"  said  the  boy.  He  was  offered 
toys  and  cakes  if  he  would  change  his  mind,  but  he 
still  refused ;  he  was  threatened,  and  at  last  he  was 
held  by  one  leg  out  of  the  window  —  all  without 
shaking  his  resolution  for  a  moment ;  and  this  con- 
stancy he  carried  with  him  through  life. 

People's  minds  grew  embittered,  and  Drusus 
was  murdered  in  the  street,  crying  as  he  fell, 
"  When  will  Rome  find  so  good  a  citizen  !  "  After 
this,  the  Italians  took  up  arms,  and  what  was  called 
the  Social  War  began.  Marius  had  no  high  com- 
mand, being  probably  too  much  connected  with 
the  enemy.  Some  of  the  Italian  tribes  held 
with  Rome,  and  these  were  rewarded  with  the 
citizenship ;  and  after  all,  though  the  consul  Lucius 


The  Wars  of  Marius.  211 

Julius  Caesar,  brother-in-law  to  Marius,  gained 
some  victories,  the  revolt  was  so  widespread,  that 
the  Senate  felt  it  wisest,  on  the  first  sign  of  peace, 
to  offer  citizenship  to  such  Italians  as  would  come 
within  sixty  days  to  claim  it.  Citizenship  brought 
a  man  under  Roman  law,  freed  him  from  taxation, 
and  gave  him  many  advantages  and  openings  to  a 
rise  in  life.  But  he  could  only  give  his  vote  at 
Rome,  and  only  there  receive  the  distribution  of 
corn,  and  he  further  became  liable  to  be  called 
out  to  serve  in  a  legion,  so  that  the  benefit  was  not 
so  great  as  at  first  appeared,  and  no  very  large 
numbers  of  Italians  came  to  apply  for  it. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

THE    ADVENTURES    OF    MARIUS. 

93—84. 

THE  chief  foe  of  Marius  was  almost  always  his 
second  in  command,  Publius  Cornelius  Sulla, 
one  of  the  men  of  highest  family  in  Rome.  He 
had  all  the  high  culture  and  elegant  learning  that 
the  rough  soldier  Marius  despised,  spoke  and  wrote 
Greek  as  easily  as  Latin,  and  was  as  well  read  in 
Greek  poetry  and  philosophy  as  any  Athenian 
could  be ;  but  he  was  given  up  to  all  the  excesses 
of  luxury  in  which  the  wealthy  Romans  indulged, 
and  his  way  of  life  had  made  him  frightful  to  look 
at.  His  face  was  said  to  be  like  a  mulberry  sprink- 
led with  salt,  with  a  terrible  pair  of  blue  eyes  glar- 
ing out  of  it. 

In  93  he  was  sent  to   command  against  Mithri- 

212 


The  Adventures  of  3farius.  213 

dates,  king  of  Pontus,  one  of  the  little  kingdoms  in 
Asia  Minor  that  had  sprung  up  out  of  the  break-up 
of  Alexander's  empire.  Under  this  king,  Mithri- 
dates,  it  had  grown  very  powerful.  He  was  of 
Persian  birth,  had  all  the  learning  and  science  both 
of  Greece  and  the  far  East,  and  was  said  in  especial 
to  be  wonderfully  learned  in  all  plants  and  their 
virtues,  so  as  to  have  made  himself  proof  against 
all  kinds  of  poison,  and  he  could  speak  twenty- 
five  languages. 

He  had  great  power  in  Asia  Minor,  and  took 
upon  himself  to  appoint  a  king  of  Cappadocia,  thus 
leading  to  a  quarrel  with  the  Romans.  In  the 
midst  of  the  Social  War,  when  he  thought  they 
had  their  hands  full  in  Italy,  Mithridates,  caused 
all  the  native  inhabitants  of  Asia  Minor  to  rise  upon 
the  Romans  anions  them  in  one  night  and  murder 
them  all,  so  that  80,000  are  said  to  have  perished. 
Sulla  was  ordered  to  take  the  command  of  the 
army  which  was  to  avenge  their  death  ;  but,  while 
he  was  raising  his  forces,  Marius,  angry  that  the 
patricians  had  hindered  the  plebeians  and  Italians 
from  gaining  more  by  the  Social  War,  raised  up  a 
great  tumult,  meaning  to  overpower  the  patricians* 
resistance.  He  would  have  done  more  wisely  had 
he  waited  until  Sulla  was  quite  gone,  for  that  gen- 


214  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

eral  came  back  to  the  rescue  of  his  friends  with 
six  newly-raised  legions,  and  Marius  could  only 
just  contrive  to  escape  from  Rome,  where  he  was 
proclaimed  a  traitor  and  a  price  set  on  his  head. 
He  was  now  seventy  years  old,  but  full  of  spirit. 
First  he  escaped  to  his  own  farm,  whence  he  hoped 
to  reach  Ostia,  where  a  ship  was  waiting  for  him  ; 
but  a  party  of  horsemen  were  seen  coming,  and 
he  was  hidden  in  a  cart  full  of  beans  and  driven 
down  the  coast,  where  he  embarked,  meaning  to  go 
to  Africa ;  but  adverse  winds  and  want  of  food 
forced  him  to  land  at  Circseum,  whence,  with  a  few 
friends,  he  made  his  way  along  the  coast,  through 
woods  and  rocks,  keeping  up  the  spirits  of  his  com- 
panions by  telling  them  that,  when  a  little  boy,  he 
robbed  an  eyrie  of  seven  eaglets,  and  that  a  sooth- 
sayer had  then  foretold  that  he  would  be  seven 
times  consul.  At  last  a  troop  of  horse  was  seen 
coming  towards  them,  and  at  the  same  time  two 
ships  near  the  coast.  The  only  hope  was  in  swim- 
ming out  to  the  nearest  ship,  and  Marius  was  so 
heavy  and  old  that  this  was  done  with  great  diffi- 
culty. Even  then  the  ships  were  so  near  the  shore 
that  the  pursuers  could  command  the  crew  to 
throw  Marius  out,  but  this  they  refused  to  do, 
though  they  only  waited  till  the  soldiers  were  gone, 


TJie  Adventures  of  Marius.  215 

to  put  him  on  shore  again.  Here  he  was  in  a 
marsh)',  boggy  place,  where  an  old  man  let  him 
rest  in  his  cottage,  and  then  hid  him  in  a  cave 
under  a  heap  of  rushes.  Again,  however,  the  troops 
appeared,  and  threatened  the  old  man  for  hiding  an 
enemy  of  the  Romans.     It  was  in  Marius'  hearing, 


THE   CATAPULT. 


and  fearing  to  be  betrayed,  he  rushed  out  into  a  pool, 
where  he  stood  up  to  his  neck  in  water  till  a  soldier 
saw  him,  and  he  was  dragged  out  and  taken  to  the 
city  of  Minturnse. 

There  the  council  decided  on  his  death,  and  sent 
a  soldier  to  kill  him,  but  the  fierce  old  man  stood 


216  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

glaring  at  him,  and  said,  "  Darest  thou  kill  Caius 
Marius  ?  "  The  man  was  so  frightened  that  he  ran 
away,  crying  out,  "  1  cannot  kill  Caius  Marius." 
The  Senate  of  MinturnsB  took  this  as  an  omen,  and 
remembered  besides  that  he  had  been  a  good  friend 
to  the  Italians,  so  they  conducted  him  through  a 
sacred  grove  to  the  sea,  and  sent  him  off  to  Africa. 
On  landing,  he  sent  his  son  to  ask  shelter  from  one 
of  the  Numidian  princes,  and,  while  waiting  for  an 
answer,  he  was  harassed  by  a  messenger  from  a 
Roman  officer  of  low  rank,  forbidding  his  presence 
in  Africa.  He  made  no  reply  till  the  messenger 
pressed  to  know  what  to  say  to  his  master.  Then 
the  old  man  looked  up,  and  sternly  answered,  "Say 
that  you  have  seen  Caius  Marius  sitting  in  the 
ruins  of  Carthage  "  —  a  grand  rebuke  for  the  insult 
to  fallen  greatness.  But  the  Numidian  could  not 
receive  him,  and  he  could  only  find  shelter  in  a  lit- 
tle island  on  the  coast. 

There  he  soon  heard  that  no  sooner  had  Sulla 
embarked  for  the  East  than  Rome  had  fallen  into 
dire  confusion.  The  consuls,  Caius  Octavius  and 
Publius  Cornelius  Cinna,  were  of  opposite  parties, 
and  had  a  furious  fight,  in  which  Cinna  was  driven 
out  of  Rome,  and  at  the  same  time  the  Italians  had 
begun    a   new   Social   War.     Marius  saw  that  his 


The  Adventures  of  Marius. 


217 


time  was  come.  He  hurried  to  Etruria,  where  he 
was  joined  by  a  party  of  his  friends  and  five  hun- 
dred runaway  slaves.  The  discontented  Romans 
formed  another  army  under  Quintus  Sertorius,  and 
the  Samnites,  who  had  begun  the  war,  overpowered 
the  troops  sent  against  them,  and  marched  to  Rome, 


ISLAND    OX    THE    COAST. 


declaring  they  would  have  no  peace  till  they  had 
destroyed  the  wolf's  lair.  China  and  an  army 
were  advancing  on  another  side,  and,  as  he  was 
really  consul,  the  Senate  in  their  distress  admitted 
him,  hoping  that  he  would  stop  the  rest ;  but  when 
he  marched  in  and  seated  himself  again  in  the  chair 
of  office,  he  had  by  his  side  old  Marius  clothed  in 
rags. 

They  were  bent  on  revenge,  and  terrible  it  was, 


218  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome 

beginning  with  the  consul,  Cams  Octavius,  who 
had  disdained  to  flee,  and  whose  head  was  severed 
from  his  bod}7-  and  displayed  in  the  Forum,  with 
many  other  senators  of  the  noblest  blood  in  Rome, 
who  had  offended  either  Marius  or  Cinna  or  any  of 
their  fierce  followers.  Marius  walked  along  in 
gloomy  silence,  answering  no  one ;  but  his  follow- 
ers were  bidden  to  spare  only  those  to  whom  he 
gave  his  hand  to  be  kissed.  The  slaves  pillaged 
the  houses,  murdered  many  on  their  own  account, 
and  everything  was  in  the  wildest  uproar,  till  the  two 
chiefs  called  in  Sertorius  with  a  legion  to  restore 
order. 

Then  they  named  themselves  consuls,  without 
«ven  asking  for  an  election,  and  thus  Marius  was 
seven  times  consul.  He  wanted  to  go  out  to  the 
East  and  take  the  command  from  Sulla,  but  his 
health  was  too  much  broken,  and  before  the  year  of 
his  consulate  was  over  he  died.  The  last  time  he 
had  left  the  house,  he  had  said  to  some  friends  that 
no  man  ought  to  trust  again  to  such  a  doubtful  for- 
tune as  his  had  been  ;  and  then  he  took  to  his  bed 
for  seven  days  without  any  known  illness,  and 
there  was  found  dead,  so  that  he  was  thought  to 
have  starved  himself  to  death. 

Cinna   put   in   another    consul   named  Valerius 


The  Adventures  of  Marius.  219 

Flaccus,  and  invited  all  the  Italians  to  enroll  them- 
selves as  Roman  citizens.  Then  Flaccus  went  out 
to  the  East,  meaning  to  take  away  the  command 
from  Sulla,  who  was  hunting  Mithridates  out  of 
Greece,  which  he  had  seized  and  held  for  a  short 
time.  But  Flaccus'  own  army  rose  against  him 
and  killed  him.  and  Sulla,  after  beating  Mithridates, 
driving  him  back  to  Pontus,  and  making  peace 
with  him,  was  now  to  come  home. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

sulla's  proscription. 

88—71. 

r  I  ''HERE  was  great  fear  at  Rome,  among  the 
■*•  friends  of  Cinna  and  Marius,  at  the  prospect 
of  Sulla's  return.  A  fire  broke  out  in  the  Capitol, 
and  this  added  to  their  terror,  for  the  Books  of  the 
Sybil  were  burnt,  and  all  her  prophecies  were  lost. 
Cinna  tried  to  oppose  Sulla's  landing,  but  was 
killed  by  his  own  soldiers  at  Brundusium. 

Sulla,  with  his  victorious  army,  could  not  be 
stopped.  Sertorius  fled  to  Spain,  but  Marius'  son 
tried,  with  the  help  of  the  Samnites,  to  resist,  and 
held  out  Prseneste,  but  the  Samnites  were  beaten 
in  a  terrible  battle  outside  the  walls,  and  when  the 
people  of  the  city  saw  the  heads  of  the  leaders  car- 
ried on  spear  points,  they  insisted  on  giving  up. 
220 


Sulla's  Proscription.  22l 

Young  Marius  and  a  Samnite  noble  liid  themselves 
in  a  cave,  and  as  they  had  no  hope,  resolved  to  die  ; 
so  they  fought,  hoping  to  kill  each  other,  and  when 
Marius  was  left  alive,  he  caused  himself  to  be  slain 
by  a  slave. 

Sulla  marched  on  towards  Rome,  furious  at  the 
resistance  he  met  with,  and  determined  on  a  terri- 
ble vengeance.  He  could  not  enter  the  city  till  he 
was  ready  to  dismiss  his  army  and  have  his  triumph, 
so  the  Senate  came  out  to  meet  him  in  the  temple 
of  Bellona.  As  they  took  their  seats,  they  heard 
dreadful  shrieks  and  cries.  "  No  matter,"  said 
Sulla  ;  "it  is  only  some  wretches  being  punished." 
The  wretches  were  the  8000  Samnite  prisoners  he 
had  taken  at  the  battle  of  Prseneste,  and  brought 
to  be  killed  in  the  Campus  Martius ;  and  with 
these  shocking  sounds  to  mark  that  he  was  in  earn- 
est, the  purple-faced  general  told  the  trembling 
Senate  that  if  they  submitted  to  him  he  would  be 
good  to  them,  but  that  he  would  spare  none  of  his 
enemies,  great  or  small. 

And  Ms  men  were  already  in  the  city  and  coun- 
try, slaughtering  not  only  the  party  of  Marius,  but 
every  one  against  whom  any  one  of  them  had  a 
spite,  or  whose  property  he  coveted.  Marius' 
bodv,  which  had  been  buried  and  not  burnt,  was 


222  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

taken  from  the  grave  and  thrown  into  the  Tiber; 
and  such  horrible  deeds  were  done  that  Sulla  was 
asked  in  the  Senate  where  the  execution  was  to 
stop.  He  showed  a  list  of  eighty  more  who  had 
yet  to  die ;  and  the  next  day  and  the  next  he 
brought  other  lists  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  each. 
These  dreadful  lists  were  called  proscriptions,  and 
any  one  who  tried  to  shelter  the  victims  was  treated 
in  the  same  manner.  The  property  of  all  who  were 
slain  was  seized,  and  their  children  declared  incap- 
able of  holding  any  public  office. 

Among  those  who  were  in  danger  was  the  nephew 
of  Marius'  wife,  Caius  Julius  Caesar,  but,  as  he  was 
of  a  high  patrician  family,  Sulla  only  required  of 
him  to  divorce  his  wife  and  marry  a  stepdaughter 
of  his  own.  Caesar  refused,  and  fled  to  the  Sabine 
hills,  where  pursuers  were  sent  after  him ;  but  his 
life  was  begged  for  by  his  friends  at  Rome,  espe- 
cially by  the  Vestal  Virgins,  and  Sulla  spared  his 
life,  saying,  however,  "  Beware ;  in  that  young 
trifler  is  more  than  one  Marius."  Caesar  went  to 
join  the  army  in  the  East  for  safety,  and  thus  broke 
off  the  idle  life  of  pleasure  he  had  been  leading  in 
Rome. 

The  country  people  were  even  more  cruelly  pun- 
ished than  the  citizens  ;  whole  cities  were  destroyed 


Sulla  s  Proscription. 


225 


and  districts  laid  waste ;  the  whole  of  Etruria  was 
ravaged,  the  old  race  entirely  swept  away,  and  the 
towns  ruined  beyond  revival,  while  the  new  city  of 
Florence  was  built  with  their  remains,  and  all  we 
know  of  them  is  from  the  tombs  which  have  of  late 
years  been  opened. 

Both  the  consuls  had  perished,  and  Sulla  caused 


CORXELIUS     SULLA. 


himself  to  be  named  Dictator.  He  had  really  a 
purpose  in  all  the  horrors  he  had  perpetrated, 
namely,  to  clear  the  way  for  restoring  the  old  gov- 
ernment at  Rome,  which  Marius  and  his  Italians 
had  been  overthrowing-.  He  did  not  see  that  the 
rule  which  had  worked  tolerably  well  while  Rome 


226  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

was  only  a  little  city  with  a  small  country  round 
it,  would  not  serve  when  it  was  the  head  of  numer- 
ous distant  countries,  where  the  governors,  like 
himself  and  Marius,  grew  rich,  and  trained  armies 
under  them  able  to  overpower  the  whole  state  at 
home.  So  he  set  to  work  to  put  matters  as  much 
as  possible  in  the  old  order.  So  many  of  the  Senate 
had  been  killed,  that  he  had  to  make  up  the  num- 
bers by  putting  in  three  hundred  knights ;  and,  to 
supply  the  lack  of  other  citizens,  after  the  hosts 
who  had  perished,  he  allowed  the  Italians  to  go  on 
coming  in  to  be  enrolled  as  citizens ;  and  ten  thou- 
sand slaves,  who  had  belonged  to  his  victims,  were 
not  only  set  free,  but  made  citizens  as  his  own 
clients,  thus  taking  the  name  of  Cornelius.  He 
also  much  lessened  the  power  of  the  tribunes  of  the 
people,  and  made  a  law  that  when  a  man  had  once 
been  a  tribune  he  should  never  be  chosen  for  any 
of  the  higher  offices  of  the  state.  By  these  means 
he  sought  to  keep  up  the  old  patrician  power,  on 
which  he  believed  the  greatness  of  Rome  depended  ; 
though,  after  all,  the  grand  old  patrician  families 
had  mostly  died  off,  and  half  the  Senate  were  only 
knights  made  noble. 

After  this  Sulla  resigned  the  dictatorship,  for  he 
was  growing  old,  and  had  worn  out  his  health  by 


Sulla  s   Proscription.  227 

his  riot  and  luxury.  He  spent  his  time  in  a  villa 
near  Rome,  talking  philosophy  with  his  friends,  and 
dictating  the  history  of  his  own  life  in  Greek. 
When  he  died,  he  bade  them  burn  his  body,  con- 
trary to  the  practice  of  the  Cornelii,  no  doubt  fear- 
ing it  would  be  treated  like  that  of  Marius. 

The  most  promising  of  the  men  of  his  party  who 
were  growing  up  and  coming  forward  was  Cnaeus 
Pompeius,  a  brave  and  worthy  man,  who  had  while 
quite  young,  gained  such  a  victory  over  a  Numid- 
ian  prince  that  Sulla  himself  gave  him  the  title  of 
Magnus,  or  the  Great.  He  was  afterwards  sent  to 
Spain,  where  Sertorius  held  out  for  eight  years 
against  the  Roman  power  with  the  help  of  the  na- 
tive chiefs,  but  at  last  was  put  to  death  by  his  own 
followers.  Things  were  altogether  in  a  bad  state. 
There  were  great  struggles  in  Rome  at  every  elec- 
tion, for  the  officers  of  the  state  were  now  chiefly 
esteemed  for  the  sake  of  the  three  or  five  years' 
government  in  the  provinces  to  which  they  led. 
Xo  expense  was  thought  too  great  in  shows  of 
beasts  and  gladiators  by  which  to  win  the  votes  of 
the  people  ;  for,  after  the  year  of  office,  the  can- 
didate meant  amply  to  repay  himself  by  what  he 
could  squeeze  out  of  the  unhappy  province  under 


228  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

his  charge,  and  nobody  cared  for  cruelty  or  injustice 
to  any  one  but  a  Roman  citizen. 

Numbers  of  gladiators  were  kept  and  trained  to 
fight  in  these  shows ;  and  while  the  Spanish  war 
was  going  on,  a  whole  school  of  them — seventy- 
eight  in  number  —  who  were  kept  at  Capua,  broke 
out,  armed  themselves  with  the  spits,  hooks,  and 
axes  in  a  butcher's  shop,  and  took  refuge  in  the 
crater  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  which  at  that  time 
showed  no  signs  of  being  an  active  volcano.  There, 
under  their  leader  Spartacus,  they  gathered  together 
every  gladiator  slave  or  who  could  run  away  to  them, 
and  Spartacus  wanted  them  to  march  northward, 
force  their  way  through  Italy,  climb  the  Alps,  and 
reach  their  homes  in  Thrace  and  Gaul ;  but  the 
plunder  of  Italy  tempted  them,  and  they  would  not 
go,  till  an  army  was  sent  against  them  under  Mar- 
cus Licinius  Crassus  —  called  Dives,  or  the  Rich, 
from  the  spoil  he  had  gained  during  the  proscrip- 
tion. Then  Spartacus  hoped  to  escape  in  a  fleet  of 
pirate  ships  from  Cilicia,  and  to  hold  out  in  the 
passes  of  Mount  Taurus ;  but  the  Cilician  pirates 
deceived  him,  sailed  away  with  his  money,  and  left 
him  to  his  fate,  and  he  and  his  gladiators  were  all 
slain  by  Crassus  and  Pompeius,  who  had  been  called 
home  from  Spain. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

THE   CAREER    OF    POMPEIUS. 

70—63. 

^N^US  POMPEIUS  MAGNUS  and  Lucius 
^-^  Licinius  Crassus  Dives  were  consuls  together 
in  the  year  70  ;  but  Crassus,  though  he  feasted  the 
people  at  10,000  tables,  was  envied  and  disliked, 
and  would  never  have  been  elected  but  for  Pom- 
peius,  who  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  people, 
and  so  much  trusted,  both  by  them  and  the  nobles, 
that  it  seems  to  have  filled  him  with  pride,  for  he 
gave  himself  great  airs,  and  did  not  treat  his  fellow- 
consul  as  an  equal. 

When  his  term  of  office  was  over,  the  most  press- 
ing thing  to  be  done  was  to  put  down  the  Cilician 
pirates.     In  the  angle  formed  between  Asia  Minor 

and  Syria,  with   plenty  of  harbors  formed  by  the 
229 


230  Young  Folks'   History   of  Rome. 

spurs  of  Mount  Taurus,  there  had  dwelt  for  ages 
past  a  horde  of  sea  robbers,  whose  swift  galleys 
darted  on  the  merchant  ships  of  Tyre  and  Alexan- 
dria ;  and  now,  after  the  ruin  of  the  Syrian  king- 
dom, they  had  grown  so  rich  that  their  state  galleys 
had  silken  sails,  oars  inlaid  with  ivory  and  silver, 
and  bronze  prows.  They  robbed  the  old  Greek 
temples  and  the  Eastern  shrines,  and  even  made 
descents  on  the  Italian  cities,  besides  stopping  the 
ships  which  brought  wheat  from  Sicily  and  Alex- 
andria to  feed  the  Romans. 

To  enable  Pompeius  to  crush  them,  authority 
was  given  him  for  three  years  over  all  the  Medi- 
terranean and  fifty  miles  inland  all  round,  which 
was  nearly  the  same  thing  as  the  whole  empire. 
He  divided  the  sea  into  thirteen  commands,  and 
sent  a  party  to  fight  the  pirates  in  each  ;  and  this 
was  done  so  effectually,  that  in  forty  days  they 
were  all  hunted  out  of  the  west  end  of  the  gulf, 
whither  he  pursued  them  with  his  whole  force,  beat 
them  in  a  sea-fight,  and  then  besieged  them ;  but, 
as  he  was  known  to  be  a  just  and  merciful  man, 
they  came  to  terms  with  him,  and  he  scattered 
them  about  in  small  colonies  in  distant  cities,  so 
that  they  might  cease  to  be  mischievous. 

In  the  meantime,  the  war  with  Mithridates  had 


The  Career  of  Pompeius.  233 

broken  out  again,  and  Lucius  Lucullus,  who  had 
been  consul  after  Pompeius,  was  fighting  with  him 
in  the  East ;  but  Lucullus  did  not  please  the  Ro- 
mans, though  he  met  with  good  success,  and  had 
pushed  Mithridates  so  hard  that  there  was  nothing 
left  for  Pompeius  but  to  complete  the  conquest, 
and  he  drove  the  old  king  beyond  Caucasus,  and 
then  marched  into  Syria,  where  he  overthrew  the 
last  of  the  Seleucian  kings,  Antiochus,  and  gave 
him  the  little  kingdom  of  Commagene  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  his  life  in,  while  Syria  and  Phoenicia 
were  made  into  a  great  Roman  province. 

Under  the  Maccabees,  Palestine  had  struggled 
into  being  independent  of  Syria,  but  only  by  the 
help  of  the  Romans,  who,  as  usual,  tried  to  ally 
themselves  with  small  states  in  order  to  make  an 
excuse  for  making  war  on  large  ones.  There  was 
now  a  great  quarrel  between  two  brothers  of  the 
Maccabean  family,  and  one  of  them,  Hyrcanus, 
came  to  ask  the  aid  of  Pompeius.  The  Roman 
army  marched  into  the  Holy  Land,  and,  after  seiz- 
ing the  whole  country,  was  three  months  besieging 
Jerusalem,  which,  after  all,  it  only  took  by  an  at- 
tack when  the  Jews  were  resting  on  the  Sabbath 
day.  Pompeius  insisted  on  forcing  Ms  way  into 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  and  was  very  much  disappoint- 


234  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

ed  to  find  it  empty  and  dark.  He  did  not  plunder 
the  treasury  of  the  Temple,  but  the  Jews  remarked 
that,  from  the  time  of  this  daring  entrance,  his  pros- 
perity seemed  to  fail  him.  Before  he  left  the  East, 
however,  old  Mithridates,  who  had  taken  refuge  in 
the  Crimea,  had  been  attacked  by  his  own  favorite 
son,  and,  finding  that  his  power  was  gone,  had 
taken  poison ;  but,  as  his  constitution  was  so  forti- 
fied by  antidotes  that  it  took  no  effect,  he  caused 
one  of  his  slaves  to  kill  him. 

The  son  submitted  to  the  Romans,  and  was  al- 
lowed to  reign  on  the  Bosphorus ;  but  Pompeius 
had  extended  the  Roman  Empire  as  far  as  the 
Euphrates  ;  for  though  a  few  small  kings  still  re- 
mained, it  was  only  by  suffrance  from  the  Romans, 
who  had  gained  thirty -nine  great  cities.  Egypt, 
the  Parthian  kingdom  on  the  Tigris,  and  Armenia 
in  the  mountains,  alone  remained  free. 

While  all  this  was  going  on  in  the  East,  there 
was  a  very  dangerous  plot  contrived  at  Rome  by 
a  man  named  Lucius  Sergius  Catilina,  and  seven 
other  good-for-nothing  nobles,  for  arming  the  mob, 
even  the  slaves  and  gladiators,  overthrowing  the 
government,  seizing  all  the  offices  of  state,  and 
murdering  all  their  opponents,  after  the  example 
first  set  by  Marius  and  Cinna. 


The   Career  of  Pompehis.  237 

Happily  such  secrets  are  seldom  kept ;  one  of  the 
plotters  told  the  woman  he  was  in  love  with,  and 
she  told  one  of  the  consuls,  Marcus  Tullius  Cicero. 
Cicero  was  one  of  the  wisest  and  best  men  in  Rome, 
and  the  one  whom  we  really  know  the  best,  for  he 
left  a  great  number  of  letters  to  his  friends,  which 
show  us  the  real  mind  of  the  man.  He  was  of  the 
order  of  the  knights,  and 'had  been  bred  up  to  be  a 
lawyer  and  orator,  and  his  speeches  came  to  be  the 
great  models  of  Roman  eloquence.  He  was  a  man 
of  real  conscience,  and  he  most  deeply  loved  Rome 
and  her  honor  ;  and  though  he  was  both  vain  and 
timid,  he  could  put  these  weaknesses  aside  for  the 
public  good.  Before  all  the  Senate  he  impeached 
Catilina,  showing  how  fully  he  knew  all  that  he  in- 
tended. Nothing  could  be  done  to  him  by  law  till 
he  had  actually  committed  his  crime,  and  Cicero 
wanted  to  show  him  that  all  was  known,  so  as  to 
cause  him  to  flee  and  join  his  friends  outside. 
Catilina  tried  to  face  it  out,  but  all  the  senators 
began  to  cry  out  against  him,  and  he  dashed  away 
in  terror,  and  left  the  city  at  night.  Cicero  an- 
nounced it  the  next  day  in  a  famous  speech,  be- 
ginning, "  He  is  gone ;  he  has  rushed  away ;  he 
has  burst  forth."  Some  of  his  followers  in  guilt 
were  left  at  Rome,  and  just  then  some  letters  were 


238 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


brought  to  Cicero  by  some  of  a  tribe  of  Gauls 
whom  they  had  invited  to  help  them  in  the  ruin  of 
the  Senate.  This  was  positive  proof,  and  Cicero 
caused  the  nine  worst  to  be  seized,  and,  having 
proved  their  guilt,  there  was  a  consultation  in  the 
Senate  as  to  their  fate.     Julius   Caesar  wanted  to 

keep  them  prisoners  for 
life,  which  he  said  was 
worse  than  death,  as  that, 
he  believed,  would  end 
everything  ;  but  all  the 
rest  of  the  Senate  were 
for  their  death,  and  they 
were  all  strangled,  with- 
out giving  them  a  chance 
of  defending  themselves 
or  appealing  to  the  peo- 
ple. Cicero  beheld  the 
execution  himself,  and 
then  went  forth  to  the  crowd,  merely  saying,  "  They 
have  lived." 

Catilina,  meantime,  had  collected  20,000  men  in 
Italy,  but  they  were  not  half-armed,  and  the  newly- 
returned  proconsul,  Metellus,  made  head  against 
him  ;  while  the  other  consul,  Cains  Antonius,  was 
recalled  from  Macedonia   with  his   army.     As  he 


COLOSSAL    STATUE    OF    POMPEITJS    OF    THE 
PALAZZO    SPADA    AT    ROME. 


The  Career  of  Pompeius. 


241 


was  a  friend  of  Catilina,  he  did  not  choose  to  fight 
with  him,  and  gave  up  the  command  to  his  lieu- 
tenant, by  whom  the  wretch  was  defeated  and  slain. 
His  head  was  cut  off  and  sent  to  Rome. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

POMPEIUS   AND    CAESAR. 

61—48. 

POMPEIUS  was  coming  home  for  his  triumph, 
every  one  had  hopes  from  him,  for  things 
were  in  a  very  bad  state.  There  had  been  a  great 
disturbance  at  Julius  Caesar's  house.  Every  year 
there  was  a  festival  in  honor  of  Cybele,  the  Bona 
Deas  or  Good  Goddess,  to  which  none  but  women 
were  admitted,  and  where  it  was  sacrilege  for  a 
man  to  be  seen.  In  the  midst  of  this  feast  in 
Caesar's  house,  a  slave  girl  told  his  mother  Aurelia 
that  there  was  a  man  among  the  ladies.  Aurelia 
shut  the  doors,  took  a  torch  and  ran  through  the 
house,  looking  in  every  one's  face  for  the  offender, 
who  was  found  to  be  Publius  Clodius,  a  worthless 

young  man,  who  had  been  in  Catilina's  conspiracy, 
242 


Pompeius  and  Ccesar. 


243 


but  had  given  evidence  against  him.  He  escaped, 
but  was  brought  to  trial,  and  then  borrowed 
money  enough  of  Crassus  the  rich,  to  bribe  the 
judges  and   avoid    the    punishment    he   deserved. 


poMPEnrs. 


Caesar's  wife,  the  sister  of  Pompeius  was  free  of 
blame  in  the  matter,  but  he  divorced  her,  saying 
that  Caesar's  wife  must  be  free  from  all  suspicion  ; 
and  this,  of  course,  did  not  bring  her  brother 
home  in  a  friendly  spirit  to  Caesar. 


244  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Pompeius'  triumph  was  the  most  magnificent 
that  had  ever  yet  been  seen.  It  lasted  two  days, 
and  the  banners  that  were  carried  in  the  proces- 
sion, bore  the  names  of  nine  hundred  cities  and 
one  thousand  fortresses  which  he  had  conquered. 
All  the  treasures  of  Mithridates —  statues,  jewels, 
and  splendid  ornaments  of  gold  and  silver  worked 
with  precious  stones — were  carried  along ;  and  it 
was  reckoned  that  he  had  brought  home  20,000 
talents — equal  to  ,£5,000,000  —  for  the  treasury. 
He  was  admired,  too,  for  refusing  any  surname 
taken  from  his  conquests,  and  only  wearing  the 
laurel  wreath  of  a  victor  in  the  Senate. 

Pompeius  and  Caesar  were  the  great  rival  names 
at  this  time.  Pompeius'  desire  was  to  keep  the 
old  framework,  and  play  the  part  of  Sulla  as  its 
protector,  only  without  its  violence  and  bloodshed. 
Csesar  saw  that  it  was  impossible  that  things 
should  go  on  as  they  were,  and  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  take  the  lead  and  mould  them  afresh ; 
but  this  he  could  not  do  while  Pompeius  was 
looked  up  to  as  the  last  great  conqueror.  So 
Csesar  meant  to  serve  his  consulate,  take  some 
government  where  he  could  grow  famous  and  form 
an  army,  and  then  come  home  and  mould  every- 
thing anew.     After  a  year's    service  in   Spain  as 


Pompeius  and  Ccesar.  245 

propraetor,  Csesar  came  back  and  made  friends 
with  Pompeius  and  Crassus,  giving  his  daughter 
Julia  in  marriage  to  Pompeius,  and  forming  what 
was  called  a  triumvirate,  or  union  of  three  men. 
Thus  he  easily  obtained  the  consulship,  and  showed 
himself  the  friend  of  the  people  by  bringing  in  an 
Agrarian  Law  for  dividing  the  public  lands  in 
Campania  among  the  poorer  citizens,  not  forgetting 
Pompeius'  old  soldiers ;  also  taking  other  measures 
which  might  make  the  Senate  recollect  that  Snlla 
had  foretold  that  he  would  be  another  Marius  and 
more. 

After  this,  he  took  Gaul  as  his  province,  and 
spent  seven  years  in  subduing  it  bit  by  bit,  and  in 
making  two  visits  to  Britain.  He  might  pretty 
well  trust  the  rotten  state  of  Rome  to  be  ready  for 
his  interference  when  he  came  back.  Clodius  had 
actually  dared  to  bring  Cicero  to  a  trial  for  having 
put  to  death  the  friends  of  Catilina  without  allow- 
ing them  to  plead  their  own  cause.  Pompeius 
would  not  help  him,  and  the  people  banished  him 
four  hundred  miles  from  Rome,  when  he  went  to 
Sicily,  where  he  was  very  miserable  ;  but  his  exile 
only  lasted  two  years,  and  then  better  counsels 
prevailed,  and  he  was  brought  home   by  a  general 


246 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


vote,  and  welcomed   almost   as  if  it  had   been    a 
triumph. 

Marcus  Porcius  Cato  was  as  honest  and  truti  a 
man  as  Cicero,  but  very  rough  and  stern,  so  that 
he  was  feared  and  hated  ;  and  there  were  often 
fierce  quarrels  in  the  Senate  and  Forum,  and  in  one 


AMPHITHEATRE. 


of  these  Pompeius'  robe  was  sprinkled  with  blood. 
On  his  return  home,  his  young  wife  Julia  thought 
he  had  been  hurt,  and  the  shock  brought  on  an 
illness  of  which  she  died ;  thus  breaking  the  link 
between  her  husband  and  father. 

Pompeius  did  all  he  could  to  please  the  Romans 


THL    ARENA. 


Pompeius  and  Ccesar.  249 

when  he  was  consul  together  with  Crassus.  He 
had  been  for  some  time  building  a  most  splendid 
theatre  in  the  Campus  Martius,  after  the  Greek 
fashion,  open  to  the  sky,  and  with  tiers  of  galleries 
circling  round  an  arena  ;  but  the  Greeks  had  never 
used  their  theatres  for  the  savage  sports  for  which 
this  was  intended.  When  it  was  opened,  five  hun- 
dred lions,  eighteen  elephants,  and  a  multitude  of 
gladiators  were  provided  to  fight  in  different  fash- 
ions with  one  another  before  thirty  thousand  spec- 
tators, the  whole  being  crowned  by  a  temple  to 
Conquering  Venus.  After  his  consulate,  Pompeius 
took  Spain  as  his  province,  but  did  not  go  there, 
managing  it  by  deputy ;  while  Crassus  had  Syria, 
and  there  went  to  war  with  the  wild  Parthians  on 
the  Eastern  border.  In  the  battle  of  Carrhse,  the 
army  of  Crassus  was  entirely  routed  by  the  Parthians; 
he  was  killed,  his  head  was  cut  off,  and  his  mouth 
filled  up  with  molten  gold  in  scorn  of  his  riches.  At 
Rome,  there  was  such  distress  that  no  one  thought 
much  even  of  such  a  disaster.  Bribes  were  given  to 
secure  elections,  and  there  was  nothing  but  tumult 
and  uproar,  in  which  good  men  like  Cicero  and 
Cato  could  do  nothing.  Clodius  was  killed  in  one 
of  these  frays,  and  the  mob  grew  so  furious  that 
the  Senate  chose  Pompeius  to  be  sole  consul  to  put 


250  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

them  down ;  and  this  he  did  for  a  short  time,  but 
all  fell  into  confusion  again  while  he  was  very  ill  of 
a  fever  at  Naples,  and  even  when  he  recovered 
there  was  a  feeling  that  Caesar  was  wanted.  But 
Caesar's  friends  said  he  must  not  be  called  upon  to 
give  up  his  army  unless  Pompeius  gave  up  his 
command  of  the  army  in  Spain,  and  neither  of  them 
would  resign. 

Caesar  advanced  with  all  his  forces  as  far  as  Ra- 
venna, which  was  still  part  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and 
then  the  consul,  Marcus  Marcellus,  begged  Pom- 
peius to  protect  the  commonwealth,  and  he  took 
up  arms.  Two  of  Caesars  great  friends,  Marcus 
Antonius  and  Caius  Cassius,  who  were  tribunes, 
forbade  this ;  and  when  they  were  not  heeded,  they 
fled  to  Caesar's  camp  asking  his  protection. 

So  he  advanced.  It  was  not  lawful  for  an  im- 
perator,  or  general  in  command  of  an  army,  to  come 
within  the  Roman  territory  with  his  troops  except 
for  his  triumph,  and  the  little  river  Rubicon  was 
the  boundary  of  Cisalpine  Gaul.  So  when  Caesar 
crossed  it,  he  took  the  first  step  in  breaking  through 
old  Roman  rules,  and  thus  the  saying  arose  that 
one  has  passed  the  Rubicon  when  one  has  gone  so 
far  in  a  matter  that  there  is  no  turning  back. 
Though  Caesar's  army  was  but  small,  his  fame  was 


Pompems  and  Ccesar.  251 

such  that  everybody  seemed  struck  with  dismay, 
even  Pompems  himself,  and  instead  of  fighting,  he 
carried  off  all  the  senators  of  his  party  to  the  South, 
even  to  the  extreme  point  of  Italy  at  Brundusium. 
Csesar  marched  after  them  thither,  having  met 
with  no  resistance,  and  having,  indeed,  won  all 
Italy  in  sixty  days.  As  he  advanced  on  Brundu- 
sium, Pompems  embarked  on  board  a  ship  in  the 
harbor  and  sailed  away,  meaning,  no  doubt,  to 
raise  an  army  in  the  provinces  and  return  —  some 
feared  like  Sulla  —  to  take  vengeance. 

Csesar  was  appointed  Dictator,  and  after  crush- 
ing Pompems'  friends  in  Spain,  he  pursued  liim 
into  Macedonia,  where  Pompems  had  been  collect- 
ing all  the  friends  of  the  old  commonwealth.  There 
was  a  great  battle  fought  at  Pharsalia,  a  battle 
which  nearly  put  an  end  to  the  old  government  of 
Rome,  for  Csesar  gained  a  great  victory  ;  and  Pom- 
peius  fled  to  the  coast,  where  he  found  a  vessel  and 
sailed  for  Egypt.  He  sent  a  message  to  ask  shelter 
at  Alexandria,  and  the  advisers  of  the  young  king- 
pretended  to  welcome  him,  but  they  really  intended 
to  make  friends  with  the  victor  ;  and  as  Pompeius 
stepped  ashore  he  was  stabbed  in  the  back,  Iris  body 
thrown  into  the  surf,  and  his  head  cut  off. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

JULIUS   CAESAR. 

48—44. 

\  \  71TH  Pompeius  fell  the  hopes  of  those  who 
»  »  were  faithful  to  the  old  government,  such 
as  Cicero  and  Cato.  They  had  only  to  wait  and  see 
what  Csesar  would  do,  and  with  the  memory  of 
Marius  in  their  minds. 

Caesar  did  not  come  at  once  to  Rome  ;  he  had 
first  to  reduce  the  East  to  obedience.  Egypt  was 
under  the  last  descendants  of  Alexander's  general 
Ptolemy,  and  was  an  ally  of  Rome,  that  is,  only  re- 
maining a  kingdom  by  her  permission.  The  king" 
was  a  wretched  weak  lad ;  his  sister  Cleopatra, 
who  was  joined  with  him  in  the  throne,  was  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  and  winning  women  who  ever 

lived.     Csesar,  who  needed  money,  demanded  some 
252 


Julius   Ccesar. 


253 


that  was  owing  to  the  state.  The  young  king's 
advisers  refused,  and  Caesar,  who  had  but  a  small 
force  with  him,  was  shut  up  in  a  quarter  of  Alex- 
andria where  he  could  get  no  fresh  water  but  from 
pits  which  his  men  dug  in  the  sand.  He  burnt  the 
Egyptian  fleet  that  it  might  not  stop  the  succors 
that  were  coming  from 
Syria,  and  he  tried  to  take 
the  Isle  of  Pharos,  with 
the  lighthouse  on  it,  but 
Iris  ship  was  sunk,  and  he 
was  obliged  to  save  him- 
self by  swimming,  hold- 
ing his  journals  in  one 
hand  above  the  water. 
However,  the  forces  from 
Syria  were  soon  brought 
to  him,  and  he  was  able  to 
fight  a  battle  in  which  the 
young  king  was  drowned  ; 
and  Egypt  was  at  his  (j| 
mercy.     Cleopatra  was  de-  juuus  cjbbab. 

termined  to  have  an  interview  with  him,  and  had 
herself  carried  into  his  rooms  in  a  roll  of  carpet, 
and  when  there,  she  charmed  him  so  much  that  he 
set  her  up  as  queen  of  Egypt.     He  remained  three 


254  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome, 

months  longer  in  Egypt  collecting  money ;  and 
hearing  that  Pharnaces,  the  son  of  Mithridates, 
had  attacked  the  Roman  settlements  in  Asia  Minor, 
he  sailed  for  Tarsus,  marched  against  Pharnaces, 
routed  and  killed  him  in  battle.  The  success  was 
announced   to  the   Senate   in   the   following  brief 


.■  ■> 


>  -  "■ 


words,  " Veni,  vidi,  vici "  —  "I  came,  I  saw,  I  con- 
quered." 

He  was  a  second  time  appointed  Dictator,  and 
came  home  to  arrange  affairs  ;  but  there  were  no 
proscriptions,  though  he  took  away  the  estates  of 
those  who  opposed  him.     There   was   still   a  party 


Fut*er\l  Solemnities  i^  the  Columbarium  (lit.  Pigeon-house)  of  the  House  of  Julius 

C/ESAR    AT   THE    PORTA    CAPENA    IN    ROME. 

(The  rows  of  niches  for  the  cinerary  urns  in  a  Roman  sepulchre  were  called  by  this 
name  from  their  resemblance  to  a  dovecot.) 


Julius  Caesar.  257 

of  the  senators  and  their  supporters  who  had  fol- 
lowed Pompeius  in  Africa,  with  Cato  and  Cnseus 
Pompeius,  the  eldest  son  of  the  great  leader,  and 
Caesar  had  to  follow  them  thither.  He  gave  them  a 
great  defeat  at  Thapsus,  and  the  remnant  took  refuge 
in  the  city  of  Utica,  whither  Caesar  followed  them. 
They  would  have  stood  a  siege,  but  the  towns- 
people would  not  consent,  and  Cato  sent  off  all  his 
party  by  sea,  and  remained  alone  Avith  his  son  and 
a  few  of  his  friends,  not  to  face  the  conqueror,  but 
to  die  by  his  own  sword  ere  he  came,  as  the  Ro- 
mans had  learned  from  Stoic  philosophy  to  think 
the  nobler  part. 

Such  of  the  Senate  as  had  not  joined  Pompeius 
were  ready  to  fall  down  and  worship  Caesar  when 
he  came  home.  So  rejoiced  was  Rome  to  fear  no 
proscription,  that  temples  were  dedicated  to  Caesar's 
clemency,  and  his  image  was  to  be  carried  in  pro- 
cession with  those  of  the  gods.  He  was  named 
Dictator  for  ten  years,  and  was  received  with  four 
triumphs  —  over  the  Gauls,  over  the  Egyptians, 
over  Pharnaces,  and  over  Juba,  an  African  king 
who  had  aided  Cato.  Foremost  of  the  Gaulish 
prisoners  was  the  brave  Vercingetorix,  and  among 
the  Egyptians,  Arsinoe,  the  sister  of  Cleopatra. 
A   banquet   was   given   at   his  cost  to  the  whole 


258  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Roman  people,  and  the  shows  of  gladiators  and 
beasts  surpassed  all  that  had  ever  been  seen.  The 
Julii  were  said  to  be  descended  from  ^Eneas  and 
to'  Venus,  as  his  ancestress,  Csesar  dedicated  a 
breastplate  of  pearls  from  the  river  mussels  of  Bri- 
tain. Still,  however,  he  had  to  go  to  Spain  to  re- 
duce the  sons  of  Pompeius.  They  were  defeated 
in  battle,  the  elder  was  killed,  but  Cnseus,  the 
younger,  held  out  in  the  mountains  and  hid  himself 
among  the  natives. 

After  this,  Csesar  returned  to  Rome  to  carry  out 
his  plans.  He  was  dictator  for  ten  years  and  con- 
sul for  five,  and  was  also  imperator  or  commander 
of  an  army  he  was  not  made  to  disband,  so  that  he 
nearly  was  as  powerful  as  any  king ;  and,  as  he 
saw  that  such  an  enormous  domain  as  Rome  now 
possessed  could  never  be  governed  by  two  magis- 
trates changing  every  year,  he  prepared  matters 
for  there  being  one  ruler.  The  influence  of  the 
Senate,  too,  he  weakened  very  much  by  naming  a 
great  many  persons  to  it  of  no  rank  or  distinction, 
till  there  were  nine  hundred  members,  and  nobody 
thought  much  of  being  a  senator.  He  also  made 
an  immense  number  of  new  citizens,  and  he  caused 
a  great  survey  to  be  begun  by  Roman  officers  in 
preparation  for  properly  arranging  the  provinces, 


Julius  Ccesar.  J259 

governments,  and  tribute  ;  and  he  began  to  have 
the  laws  drawn  up  in  regular  order.  In  fact,  he 
was  one  of  the  greatest  men  the  world  has  evei 
produced,  not  only  as  a  conqueror,  but  a  statesman 
and  ruler ;  and  though  his  power  over  Rome  was 
not  according  to  the  laws,  and  had  been  gained  by 
a  rebellion,  he  was  using  it  for  her  good. 

He  was  learned  in  all  philosophy  and  science,  and 
his  history  of  his  wars  in  Gaul  has  come  down  to 
our  times.  As  a  high  patrician  by  birth,  he  was 
Pontifex  Maximus,  or  chief  priest,  and  thus  had  to 
fix  all  the  festival  da}'s  in  each  year.  Now  the 
year  had  been  supposed  to  be  only  three  hundred 
and  fifty-five  days  long,  and  the  Pontifex  put  in 
another  month  or  several  days  whenever  he  pleased, 
so  that  there  was  great  confusion,  and  the  feast 
days  for  the  harvest  and  vintage  came,  according 
to  the  calendar,  three  months  before  there  was  any 
corn  or  grapes. 

To  set  this  to  rights,  since  it  was  now  understood 
that  the  length  of  the  year  was  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  days  and  six  hours,  Caesar  and  the  scien- 
tific men  who  assisted  him  devised  the  fresh  ar- 
rangement that  we  call  leap  year,  adding  a  day  to 
the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  once  in  four  years. 
He  also  changed  the  name  of  one  of  the  summer 


260  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

months  from  Sextile  to  July,  in  honor  of  himself. 
Another  work  of  his  was  restoring  Corinth  and 
Carthage,  which  had  both  been  ruined  the  same 
year,  and  now  were  both  refounded  the  same 
year. 

He  was  busy  about  the  glory  of  the  state,  but 
there  was  much  to  shock  old  Roman  feelings  in  his 
conduct.  Cleopatra  had  followed  him  to  Rome, 
and  he  was  thinking  of  putting  away  his  wife  Cal- 
phurnia  to  marry  her.  But  his  keeping  the  dictator- 
ship was  the  real  grievance,  and  the  remains  of  the 
old  party  in  the  Senate  could  not  bear  that  the  pa- 
trician freedom  of  Rome  should  be  lost.  Every 
now  and  then  his  flatterers  offered  him  a  royal 
crown  and  hailed  him  as  king,  though  he  always 
refused  it,  and  this  title  still  stirred  up  bitter 
hatred.  He  was  preparing  an  army,  intending  to 
march  into  the  further  East,  avenge  Crassus'  de- 
feat on  the  Parthians,  and  march  where  no  one  but 
Alexander  had  made  his  way  ;  and  if  he  came  back 
victorious  from  thence,  nothing  would  be  able  to 
stand  against  him. 

The  plotters  then  resolved  to  strike  before  he 
set  out.  Caius  Cassius,  a  tall,  lean  man,  who  had 
lately  been  made  praetor,  was  the  chief  conspirator, 


Julius  CcBsar.  261 

and  with  him  was  Marcus  Junius  Brutus,  a  de- 
scendant of  him  who  overthrew  the  Tarquins,  and 
husband  to  Porcia,  Cato's  daughter,  also  another 
Brutus  named  Decimus,  hitherto  a  friend  of  Csesar, 
and  newly  appointed  to  the  government  of  Cisal- 
pine Gaul.  These  and  twelve  more  agreed  to  mur- 
der Csesar  on  the  15th  of  March,  called  in  the 
Roman  calendar  the  Ides  of  March,  when  he  went 
to  the  senate-house. 

Rumors  got  abroad  and  warnings  came  to  him 
about  that  special  day.  His  wife  dreamt  so  terrible 
a  dream  that  he  had  almost  yielded  to  her  entreat- 
ies to  stay  at  home,  when  Decimus  Brutus  came  in 
and  laughed  him  out  of  it.  As  he  was  carried  to  the 
senate-house  in  a  litter,  a  man  gave  him  a  writing 
and  begged  him  to  read  it  instantly  ;  but  he  kept 
it  rolled  in  his  hand  without  looting.  As  he  went 
up  the  steps  he  said  to  the  augur  Spurius,  "The 
Ides  of  March  are  come."  "  Yes,  Caesar,"  was  the 
answer  ;  "but  they  are  not  passed."  A  few  steps 
further  on,  one  of  the  conspirators  met  him  with  a 
petition,  and  the  others  joined  in  it,  clinging  to  his 
robe  and  his  neck,  till  another  caught  his  toga  and 
pulled  it  over  his  arms,  and  then  the  first  blow  was 
struck  with  a  dagger.  Csesar  struggled  at  first  as 
all  fifteen  tried  to  strike  at  him,  but,  when  he  saw  the 


262 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


hand  uplifted  of  his  treacherous  friend  Deeimus,  he 
exclaimed,  uEt  tu  Brute  "'  —  "  Thou,  too,  Brutus  " 
—  drew  his  toga  over  his  head,  and  fell  dead  at  the 
foot  of  the  statue  of  Pompeius. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

THE   SECOND   TRIUMVIRATE. 

44—33. 

THE  murderers  of  Caesar  had  expected  the 
Romans  to  hail  them  as  deliverers  from  a 
tyrant,  but  his  great  friend  Marcus  Antonius,  who 
was,  together  with  him,  consul  for  that  year,  made  a 
speech  over  his  body  as  it  lay  on  a  couch  of  gold 
and  ivory  in  the  Forum  ready  for  the  funeral. 
Antonius  read  aloud  Caesar's  will,  and  showed  what 
benefits  he  had  intended  for  his  fellow-citizens,  and 
how  he  loved  them,  so  that  love  for  him  and  wrath 
against  his  enemies  filled  every  hearer.  The  army, 
of  course,  were  furious  against  the  murderers ;  the 
Senate  was  terrified,  and  granted  everything  An- 
tonius chose  to  ask,  provided  he  would  protect 
them,  whereupon  lie  begged  for  a  guard  for  himself 
263 


264  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

that  he  might  be  saved  from  Caesar's  fate,  and  this 
they  gave  him  ;  while  the  fifteen  murderers  fled 
secretly,  mostly  to  Cisalpine  Gaul,  of  which  Deci- 
mus  Brutus  was  governor. 

Caesar  had  no  child  but  the  Julia  who  had  been 
wife  to  Pompeius,  and  his  heir  was  his  young- 
cousin  Caius  Octavius,  who  changed  his  name  to 
Caius  Julius  Caesar  Octavianus,  and,  coming  to 
Rome,  demanded  his  inheritance,  which  Antonius 
had  seized,  declaring  that  it  was  public  money; 
but  Octavianus,  though  only  eighteen,  showed  so 
much  prudence  and  fairness  that  many  of  the  Sen- 
ate were  drawn  towards  him  rather  than  Antonius, 
who  had  always  been  known  as  a  bad,  untrust- 
worthy man  ;  but  the  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to 
put  down  the  murderers — Decimus  Brutus  was  in 
Gaul,  Marcus  Brutus  and  Cassius  in  Macedonia, 
and  Sextus  Pompeius  had  also  raised  an  army  in 
Spain. 

Good  men  in  the  Senate  dreaded  no  one  so 
much  as  Antonius,  and  put  their  hope  in  young 
Octavianus.  Cicero  made  a  set  of  speeches 
against  Antonius,  which  are  called  Philippics,  be- 
cause they  denounce  him. as  Demosthenes  used  to 
denounce  Philip  of  Macedon,  and  like  them,  too, 
they   were  the  last  flashes  of  spirit  in  a  sinking 


The  Second  Triumvirate. 


265 


state ;  and  Cicero,  in  those  days,  was  the  foremost 
and  best  man  who  was  trying  at  his  own  risk  to 
save  the'  old  institutions  of  his  country.  But  it 
was  all  in  vain ;  they  were  too  rotten  to  last,  and 
there  were  not  enough  of  honest  men  to  make  a 
stand  against  a  violent  unscrupulous  schemer  like 
Antonius,  above  all  now 
that  the  clever  young 
Octavianus  saw  it  was 
for  his  interest  to  make 
common  cause  with  him, 
and  with  a  third  friend 
of  Caesar,  rich  but  dull, 
named  Marcus  iEmilius 
Lepidus.  They  called  on 
Decimus  Brutus  to  sur- 
render his  forces  to  them, 
and  marched  against  him, 
Then  his  troops  deserted 
him,  and  he  tried  to  es- 
cape into  the  Alps,  but  was  delivered  up  to  Anto- 
nius and  put  to  death. 

Soon  after,  Antonius,  Lepidus,  and  Octavianus 
all  met  on  a  little  island  in  the  river  Rhenus  and 
agreed  to  form  a  triumvirate  for  five  years  for  set- 
ting things  to  rights  once  more,  all  three  enjoying 


MARCUS    ANTONIUS. 


266  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

consular  power  together ;  and,  as  the y  had  the 
command  of  all  the  armies,  there  was  no  one  to 
stop  them.  Lepidus  was  to  stay  and  govern 
Rome,  while  the  other  two  hunted  down  the  mur- 
derers of  Csesar  in  the  East.  But  first,  there  was 
a  deadly  vengeance  to  be  taken  in  the  city  upon 
all  who  could  be  supposed  to  have  favored  the 
murder  of  Csesar,  or  who  could  be  enemies  to 
their  schemes.  So  these  three  sat  down  with  a 
list  of  the  citizens  before  them  to  make  a  proscrip- 
tion, each  letting  a  kinsman  or  friend  of  his  own 
be  marked  for  death,  provided  he  might  slay  one 
related  to  another  of  the  three.  The  dreadful  list 
was  set  up  in  the  Forum,  and  a  price  paid  for  the 
heads  of  the  people  in  it,  so  that  soldiers,  ruffians, 
and  slaves  brought  them  in  ;  but  it  does  not  seem 
that  —  as  in  the  other  two  proscriptions  —  there 
was  random  murder,  and  many  bribed  their  assas- 
sins and  escaped  from  Italy.  Octavianus  haa 
marked  the  fewest  and  tried  to  save  Cicero,  bu^ 
Antonius  insisted  on  his  death.  On  hearing  that 
he  was  in  the  fatal  roll,  Cicero  had  left  Rome  with 
his  brother,  and  slowly  travelled  towards  the  coast 
from  one  country  house  to  another  till  he  came  to 
Antium,  whence  he  meant  to  sail  for  Greece  ;  but 
there  he  was  overtaken.     His  brother  was  killed  at 


The  Second  Triumvirate.  267 

once,  but  he  was  put  into  a  boat  by  his  slaves,  and 
went  down  the  coast  to  Formise,  where  he  landed 
again,  and,  going  to  a  house  near,  said  he  would 
rather  die  in  his  own  country  which  he  had  so 
often  saved.  However,  when  the  pursuers  knocked 
at  the  gate,  his  slaves  placed  him  in  a  litter  and 
hurried  him  out  at  another  door.  He  was,  how- 
ever, again  overtaken,  and  he  forbade  his  slaves  to 
fight  for  him,  but  stretched  out  his  throat  for  the 
sword,  with  his  eyes  full  upon  it.  His  head  was 
carried  to  Antonius,  whose  wife  Fulvia  actually 
pierced  the  tongue  with  her  bodkin  in  revenge 
for  the  speeches  it  had  made  against  her  husband. 

After  this  dreadful  work,  Antonius  and  Octavi- 
anus  went  across  to  Greece,  where  Marcus  Brutus 
had  collected  the  remains  of  the  army  that  had 
fought  under  Pompeius.  He  had  been  made  much 
of  at  Athens,  where  his  statue  had  been  set  up  be- 
side that  of  Harmodius  and  Aristogeiton,  the  slay- 
ers of  Pisistratus.  Cassius  had  plundered  Asia 
Minor,  and  the  two  met  at  Sardis.  It  is  said  that 
the  night  before  they  were  to  pass  into  Macedonia, 
Brutus  was  sitting  alone  in  his  tent,  when  he  saw 
the  figure  of  a  man  before  him.  "  Who  art 
thou?"    he   asked,   and   the   answer  was,  "I   am 


268  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

thine  evil  genius,  Brutus ;  I  will  meet  thee  again 
at  Philippi." 

And  it  was  at  Philippi  that  Brutus  and  Cassius 
found  themselves  face  to  face  with  Antonius  and 
Octavianus.  Each  army  was  divided  into  two, 
and  Brutus,  who   fought   against  Octavianus,  put 


MARCUS    BRUTUS. 


his  army  to  flight,  but  Cassius  was  driven  back  by 
Antonius ;  and  seeing  a  troop  of  horsemen  coming 
towards  him,  he  thought  all  was  lost,  and  threw 
himself  upon  a  sword.  Brutus  gathered  the 
troops  together,  and  after  twenty  days  renewed 
the  fightr  when  he  was  routed,  fled,  and  hid  him- 


The  Second  Triumvirate.  269 

self,  but  after  some  hours  put  himself  to  death,  as 
did  his  wife  Porcia  when  she  heard  of  his  end. 

After  this,  Octavianus  went  back  to  Italy,  while 
Antonius  stayed  to  pacify  the  East.  When  he 
was  at  Tarsus,  the  lovely  queen  of  Egypt  came, 
resolved  to  win  him  over.  She  sailed  up  the  Cyd- 
nus  in  a  beautiful  galley,  carved,  gilded,  and  in- 
laid with  ivory,  with  sails  of  purple  silk  and  sil- 
vered oars,  moving  to  the  sound  of  flutes,  while 
she  lay  on  the  deck  under  a  star-spangled  canopy 
arrayed  as  Venus,  with  her  ladies  as  nymphs,  and 
little  boys  as  Cupids  fanning  her.  Antonius  was 
perfectly  fascinated,  and  she  took  him  back  to 
Alexandria  with  her,  heeding  nothing  but  her  and 
the  delights  with  which  she  entertained  him, 
though  his  wife  Fulvia  and  his  brother  were  strug- 
gling to  keep  up  his  power  at  Rome.  He  did 
come  home,  but  only  to  make  a  fresh  agreement 
with  Octavianus,  by  which  Fulvia  was  given  up 
and  he  married  Octavia,  the  widow  of  Marcellus 
and  sister  of  Octavianus.  But  he  could  not  bear 
to  stay  long  away  from  Cleopatra,  and,  deserting 
Octavia,  he  returned  to  Egypt,  where  the  most 
wonderful  revelries  were  kept  up.  Stories  are  told 
of  eight  wild  boars  being  roasted  in  one  day,  each 
being  begun  a  little  later  than  the  last,  that  one 


270  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

might  be  in  perfection  when  Antonius  should  call 
for  his  dinner.  Cleopatra  vowed  once  that  she 
would  drink  the  most  costly  of  draughts,  and,  tak- 
ing off  an  earring  of  inestimable  price,  dissolved  it 
in  vinegar  and  swallowed  it. 

In  the  meantime,   Octavianus  and  Lepidus  to- 
gether had  put  down  Decimus,  and  Lepidus  had 


ALEXANDRIA. 

then  tried  to  overcome  Octavianus,  but  was  him- 
self conquered  and  banished  ;  for  Octavianus,  was 
a  kindly  man,  who  never  shed  blood  if  he  could 
help  it,  and,  now  that  he  was  alone  at  Rome,  won 
every  one's  heart  by  his  gracious  ways,  while  An- 
tonius' riots  in  Egypt  were  a  scandal  to  all  who 
loved  virtue  and  nobleness.  So  far  was  the  Ro- 
man fallen   that  he    even  promised    Cleopatra  to 


The  Second  Triumvirate.  271 

conquer  Italy  and  make  Alexandria  the  capital  of 
the  world.  Octavia  tried  to  win  him  back,  but 
she  was  a  grave,  virtuous  Roman  matron,  and 
coarse,  dissipated  Antonius  did  not  care  for  her 
compared  with  the  enticing  Egyptian  queen.  It 
was  needful  at  last  for  Octavianus  to  destroy  this 
dangerous  power,  and  he  mustered  a  fleet  and 
army,  while  Antonius  and  Cleopatra  sailed  out  of 
Alexandria  with  their  ships  and  gave  battle  off  the 
Cape  of  Actium.  In  the  midst,  either  fright  or 
treachery  made  Cleopatra  sail  away,  and  all  the 
Egyptian  ships  with  her,  so  that  Antonius  turned 
at  once  and  fled  With  her.  They  tried  to  raise  the 
East  in  their  favor,  but  all  their  allies  deserted 
them,  and  their  soldiers  went  over  to  Alexandria, 
where  Octavianus  followed  them.  Then  Cleopatra 
betrayed  her  lover,  and  put  into  the  hands  of  Oc- 
tavianus the  ships  in  which  he  might  have  fled. 
He  killed  himself,  and  Cleopatra  surrendered,  hop- 
ing to  charm  young  Octavianus  as  she  had  done 
Julius  and  Antonius,  but  when  she  saw  him  grave 
and  unmoved,  and  found  he  meant  to  exhibit  her 
in  his  triumph,  she  went  to  the  tomb  of  Antonius 
and  crowned  it  with  flowers.  The  next  day  she 
was  found  on  her  couch,  in  her  royal  robes,  dead, 
and  her  two  maids  dying  too.     "  Is   this  well  ?  " 


272 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


asked  the  man  who  found  her.  "  It  is  well  for  the 
daughter  of  kings,"  said  her  maid  with  her  last 
breath.  Cleopatra  had  long  made  experiments  on 
easy  ways  of  death,  and  it  was  believed  that  an 
asp  was  brought  to  her  in  a  basket  of  figs  as  the 
means  of  her  death. 


CA1US   OCTAVIUS. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 


CMSAJS,  AUGUSTUS. 


B.C.  33 — a.d.  14. 


r  I  ^HE  death  of  Antonius  ended  the  fierce  strug. 
■■-  gles  which  had  torn  Rome  so  long.  Octavi- 
anus  was  left  alone  ;  all  the  men  who  had  striven 
for  the  old  government  were  dead,  and  those  who 
were  left  were  worn  out  and  only  longed  for  rest. 
They  had  found  that  he  was  kind  and  friendly, 
and  trusted  to  him  thankfully,  nay,  were  ready  to 
treat  him  as  a  kind  of  god.  The  old  frame  of 
constitution  went  on  as  usual ;  there  was  still  a 
Senate,  still  consuls,  and  all  the  other  magistrates, 
but  Caesar  Octavianus  had  the  power  belonging  to 
each  gathered  in  one.  He  was  prince  of  the  Sen- 
ate, which  gave  him  rule  in  the  city ;  praetor, 
which  made  him  judge,  and  gave  him  a  special 
273 


274  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

guard  of  soldiers  called  the  Praetorian  Guard  to 
execute  justice ;  and  tribune  of  the  people,  which 
made  him  their  voice  ;  and  even  after  his  triumph 
he  was  still  imperator,  or  general  of  the  army. 
This  word  becomes  in  English,  emperor,  but  it 
meant  at  this  time  merely  commander-in-chief. 
He  was  also  Pontifex  Maximus,  as  Julius  Csesar 
had  been  ;  and  there  was  a  general  feeling  that  he 
was  something  sacred  and  set  apart  as  the  ruler 
and  peace-maker ;  and,  as  he  shared  this  feeling 
himself,  he  took  the  name  of  Augustus,  which  is 
the  one  by  which  he  is  always  known. 

He  did  not,  however,  take  to  himself  any  great 
show  or  state.  He  lived  in  his  family  abode,  and 
dressed  and  walked  about  the  streets  like  any 
other  Roman  gentleman  of  consular  rank,  and  no 
special  respect  was  paid  to  him  in  speech,  for, 
warned  by  the  fate  of  Julius,  he  was  determined 
to  prevent  the  Romans  from  being  put  in  mind  of 
kings  and  crowns.  He  was  a  wise  and  deep-think- 
ing man,  and  he  tried  to  carry  out  the  plans  of 
Julius  for  the  benefit  of  the  nation  and  of  the 
whole  Roman  world.  He  had  the  survey  finished 
of  all  the  countries  of  the  empire,  which  now 
formed  a  complete  border  round  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  reaching  as  far  north  as  the  British  Channel, 


uliiiiliiliiififililiiil'lllr.'J  ;' 


3TATUE    OF    AUGUSTUS   AS   TBJi  VATICAN. 


Ccesar  Augustus.  277 

the  Alps,  and  the  Black  Sea ;  as  far  south  as  the 
African  desert,  as  far  west  as  the  Atlantic,  and 
east  as  the  borders  of  the  Euphrates ;  and  he  also 
had  a  universal  census  made  of  the  whole  of  the 
inhabitants.  It  was  the  first  time  such  a  thing 
had  been  possible,  for  all  the  world  was  at  last  at 
peace,  so  that  the  Temple  of  Janus  was  closed  for 
the  third  and  last  time  in  Roman  history.  There 
was  a  feeling  all  over  the  world  that  a  great  Deliv- 
erer and  peaceful  Prince  was  to  be  expected  at 
this  time.  One  of  the  Sybils  was  believed  to  have 
so  sung,  and  the  Romans,  in  their  relief  at  the 
good  rule  of  Augustus,  thought  he  was  the  prom- 
ised one ;  but  they  little  knew  why  God  had 
brought  about  this  great  stillness  from  all  wars, 
or  why  He  moved  the  heart  of  Augustus  to  make 
the  decree  that  all  the  world  should  be  taxed  — 
namely,  that  the  true  Prince  of  Peace,  the  real 
Deliverer,  might  be  born  in  the  home  of  His  fore- 
fathers, Bethlehem,  the  chYy  of  David. 

The  purpose  of  Augustus'  taxing  was  to  make  a 
regular  division  of  the  empire  into  provinces  for 
the  proconsuls  to  govern,  with  lesser  divisions  for 
the  propraetors,  while  many  cities,  especially  Greek 
ones,  were  allowed  their  own  magistrates,  and 
some   small  tributary  kingdoms   still  remained  till 


278  Young  Folks'1  History  of  Rome. 

the  old  royal  family  should  either  die  out  or  offend 
the  Romans.  In  these  lands  the  people  were  gov- 
erned by  their  own  laws,  unless  they  were  made 
Roman  citizens  ;  and  this  freedom  was  more  and 
more  granted,  and  saved  them  from  paying  the 
tribute  all  the  rest  had  to  pay,  and  which  went  to 
support  the  armies  and  other  public  institutions  at 
Rome,  and  to  provide  the  corn  which  was  regu- 
larly distributed  to  such  citizens  as  claimed  it  at 
Rome.  A  Roman  colony  was  a  settlement,  genei 
ally  of  old  soldiers  who  had  had  lands  granted  to 
them,  and  kept  their  citizenship ;  and  it  was  like 
another  little  Rome  managing  its  own  affairs, 
though  subject  to  the  mother  city.  There  were 
many  of  these  colonies,  especially  in  Gaul  on  the 
north  coast,  to  defend  it  from  the  Germans. 
Cologne  was  one,  and  still  keeps  its  name.  The 
tribute  was  carefully  fixed,  and  Augustus  did  his 
best  to  prevent  the  governors  from  preying  on  the 
people. 

He  tried  to  bring  back  better  ways  to  Rome, 
which  was  in  a  sad  state,  full  of  vice  and  riot,  and 
with  little  of  the  old,  noble,  hardy  ways  of  the 
former  times.  The  educated  men  had  studied 
Greek  philosophy  till  they  had  no  faith  in  their 
own   gods,  and,    indeed,  had  so   mixed   up   their 


Ccesar  Augustus.  279. 

mythology  with  the  Greek  that  they  really  did  not 
know  who  their  own  were,  and  could  not  tell  who 
were  the  greater  gods  whom  Decius  Mus  invoked 
before  he  rushed  on  the  enemy ;  and  yet  they  kept 
up  their  worship,  because  their  feasts  were  so  con- 
nected with  the  State  that  everything  depended  on 
them  ;  but  they  made  them  no  real  judges  or  help- 
ers. The  best  men  of  the  time  were  those  who 
had  taken  up  the  Stoic  philosophy,  which  held 
that  virtue  was  above  all  things,  whether  it  was 
rewarded  or  not ;  the  worst  were  often  the  Epicu- 
reans, who  held  that  we  had  better  enjoy  all  we 
can  in  this  life,  being  sure  of  nothing  else. 

Learning  was  much  esteemed  in  the  time  of 
Augustus.  He  and  his  two  great  friends,  Caius 
Cilnius  Maecenas  and  Vipsanius  Agrippa,  both  had 
a  great  esteem  for  scholarship  and  poetry,  and  in 
especial  the  house  of  Maecenas  was  always  open  to 
literary  men.  The  two  chief  poets  of  Rome, 
Publius  Virgilius  Maro  and  Quintus  Horatius 
Flaccus,  were  warm  friends  of  his.  Virgil  wrote 
poems  on  husbandry,  and  short  dialogue  poems 
called  eclogues,  in  one  of  which  he  spoke  of  the 
time  of  Augustus  in  words  that  would  almost 
serve  as  a  prophec}r  of  the  kingdom  of  Him  who 
was  just   born   at    Bethlehem.     By  desire  of  Au- 


280  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

gustus,  he  also  wrote  the  JEneid,  a  poem  on  the 
war-doings  of  iEneas  and  his  settlement  in  Italy. 

Horace  wrote  odes  and  letters  in  verse  and 
satires,  which  show  the  habits  and  ways  of  think- 
ing of  his  time  in  a  very  curious  manner ;  and 
there  were  many  other  writers  whose  works  have 
not  come  down  to  us  ;  but  the  Latin  of  this  time 
is  the  model  of  the  language,  and  an  Augustan  age 
has  ever  since  been  a  term  for  one  in  which  litera- 
ture flourishes. 

All  the  early  part  of  Augustus'  reign  was  pros- 
perous, but  he  had  no  son,  only  a  daughter  named 
Julia.  He  meant  to  marry  her  to  Marcellus,  the 
son  of  his  sister  Antonia,  but  Marcellus  died 
young,  and  was  lamented  in  Virgil's  JEneid ;  so 
Julia  was  given  to  Agrippa's  son.  Augustus'  sec- 
ond wife  was  Livia,  who  had  been  married  to 
Tiberius  Claudius  Nero,  and  had  two  sons,  Tibe- 
rius and  Drusus,  whom  Augustus  adopted  as  his 
own  and  intended  for  his  heirs ;  and  when  Julia 
lost  her  husband  Agrippa  and  her  two  young  sons, 
he  forced  Tiberius  to  divorce  the  young  wife  he 
really  loved  to  marry  her.  It  was  a  great  grief  to 
Tiberius,  and  seems  to  have  quite  changed  his 
character  into  being  grave,  silent,  and  morose. 
Julia,  though  carefully  brought  up,  was  one  of  the 


Paintings  in  the  house  of  LmA. 


Ccesar  Augustus.  283 

most  wicked  and  depraved  of  women,  and  almost 
broke  her  father's  heart.  He  banished  her  to  an 
island  near  Rhegium,  and  when  she  died  there, 
would  allow  no  funeral  honors  to  be  paid  to  her. 

The  peace  was  beginning  to  be  broken  by  wars 
with  the  Germans ;  and  young  Drusus  was  com- 
manding the  army  against  them,  and  gaining  such 
honor  that  he  was  called  Germanicus,  when  he 
fell  from  his  horse  and  died  of  his  injuries,  leaving 
one  young  son.  He  was  buried  at  Rome,  and  his 
brother  Tiberius  walked  all  the  way  beside  the 
bier,  with  his  long  flaxen  hair  flowing  on  his 
shoulders.  Tiberius  then  went  back  to  command 
the  armies  on  the  Rhine.  Some  half-conquered 
country  lay  beyond,  and  the  Germans  in  the  for- 
ests were  at  this  time  under  a  brave  leader  called 
Arminius.  They  were  attacked  by  the  proconsul 
Quinctilius  Varus,  and  near  the  river  Ems,  in  the 
Herycimian  forest,  Arminius  turned  on  him  and 
routed  him  completely,  cutting  off  the  whole 
army,  so  that  only  a  few  fled  back  to  Tiberius  to 
tell  the  tale,  and  he  had  to  fall  back  and  defend 
the  Rhine. 

The  news  of  this  disaster  was  a  terrible  shock  to 
the  Emperor.  He  sat  grieving  over  it,  and  at 
times  he  dashed  his  head  against  the  wall,  crying, 


284  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

"  Varus,  Varus  !  give  me  back  my  legions/'  His 
friends  were  dead,  he  was  an  old  man  now,  and 
sadness  was  around  him.  He  was  soon,  however, 
grave  and  composed  again ;  and,  as  his  health 
began  to  fail,  he  sent  for  Tiberius  and  put  his 
affairs  into  his  hands.  When  his  dying  day  came, 
he  met  it  calmly.  He  asked  if  there  was  any  fear 
of  a  tumult  on  his  death,  and  was  told  there  was 
none  ;  then  he  called  for  a  mirror,  and  saw  that 
his  grey  hair  and  beard  were  in  order,  and,  asking 
his  friends  whether  he  had  played  his  part  well,  he 
uttered  a  verse  from  a  play  bidding  them  applaud 
his  exit,  bade  Livia  remember  him,  and  so  died  in 
his  seventy-seventh  year,  having  ruled  fifty-eight 
years  —  ten  as  a  triumvir,  forty-eight  alone. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

TIBERIUS  AND  CALIGULA. 
A.D.  14—41. 

NO  difficulty  was  made  about  giving  all  the 
powers  Augustus  had  held  to  his  stepson, 
Tiberius  Claudius  Nero,  who  had  also  a  right  to 
the  names  of  Julius  Caesar  Augustus,  and  was  in 
his  own  time  generally  called  Csesar.  The  Senate 
had  grown  too  helpless  to  think  for  themselves, 
and  all  the  choice  they  ever  made  of  the  consuls 
was  that  the  Emperor  gave  out  four  names,  among 
which  they  chose  two. 

Tiberius  had  been  a  grave,  morose  man  ever  since 
he  was  deprived  of  the  wife  he  loved,  and  had  lost 
his  brother ;  and  he  greatly  despised  the  mean, 
cringing  ways  round  him,  and  kept  to  himself ;  but 
his  nephew,  called  Germanicus,  after  his  father,  was 
285 


286  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

the  person  whom  every  one  loved  and  trusted.  He 
had  married  Agrippina,  Julia's  daughter,  who  was 
also  a  very  good  and  noble  person ;  and  when  he  was 
sent  against  the  Germans,  she  went  with  him,  and  her 
little  boys  ran  about  among  the  soldiers,  and  were 
petted  by  them.  One  of  them,  Caius,  was  called 
by  the  soldiers  Caligula,  or  the  Little  Shoe,  because 
he  wore  a  caliga  or  shoe  like  theirs  ;  and  he  never 
lost  the  nickname. 

Germanicus  earned  his  surname  over  again  by 
driving  Arminius  back ;  but  he  was  more  enter- 
prising than  would  have  been  approved  by  Augus- 
tus, who  thought  it  wiser  to  guard  what  he  had 
than  to  make  wider  conquests ;  and  Tiberius  was 
not  only  one  of  the  same  mind,  but  was  jealous  of 
the  great  love  that  all  the  army  were  showing  for 
his  nephew,  and  this  distrust  was  increased  when 
the  soldiers  in  the  East  begged  for  Germanicus  to 
lead  them  against  the  Parthians.  He  set  out,  visit- 
ing all  the  famous  places  in  Greece  by  the  way, 
and  going  to  see  the  wonders  of  Egypt,  but  while 
in  Syria  he  fell  ill  of  a  wasting  sickness  and  died, 
so  that  many  suspected  the  spy,  Cnseus  Piso, 
whom  Tiberius  had  sent  with  him,  of  having 
poisoned  him.  When  his  wife  Agrippina  came 
home,  bringing  his  corpse  to  be  burnt  and  his  ashes 


K.U1NS    OF   THE   PALACES   OF   TIBERIUS. 


Tiberius  and  Caligula.  289 

placed  in  the  burying-place  of  the  Caesars,  there 
was  universal  love  and  pity  for  her.  Piso  seized 
on  all  the  offices  that  Germanicus  had  held,  but 
was  called  back  to  Rome,  and  was  just  going  to  be 
put  upon  his  trial  when  he  cut  his  own  throat. 

All  this  tended  to  make  Tiberius  more  gloomy 
and  distrustful,  and  when  his  mother  Livia  died  he 
had  no  one  to  keep  him  in  check,  but  fell  under 
the  influence  of  a  man  named  Sejanus,  who  man- 
aged all  his  affairs  for  him,  while  he  lived  in  a  villa 
in  the  island  of  Caprese  in  the  Bay  of  Naples,  see- 
ing hardly  any  but  a  few  intimates,  given  up  to  all 
sorts  of  evil  luxuries  and  self-indulgences,  and 
hating  and  dreading  every  one.  Agrippina  was  so 
much  loved  and  respected  that  he  dreaded  and  dis- 
liked her  beyond  all  others ;  and  Sejanus  contrived 
to  get  up  an  accusation  of  plotting  against  the 
state,  upon  which  she  and  her  eldest  son  were  ban- 
ished to  two  small  rocky  isles  in  the  Mediterranean 
Sea.  The  other  two  sons,  Drusus  and  Caius,  were 
kept  by  Tiberius  at  Caprese,  till  Tiberius  grew  sus- 
picious of  Drusus  and  threw  him  into  prison.  Se- 
janus, who  had  encouraged  all  his  dislike  to  his  own 
kinsmen,  and  was  managing  all  Rome,  then  began 
to  hope  to  gain  the  full  power ;  but  his  plans  were 
guessed   by    Tiberius,  and   he    caused   his   former 


290 


Young  Folks'   History  of  Rome. 


favorite  to  be  set  upon  in  the  senate-house  and  put 
to  death. 

It  is  strange  to  remember  that,  while  such  dark 
deeds  were  being  done  at  Rome,  came  the  three 
years  when  the  true  Light  was  shining  in  the  dark- 
ness.    It  was  in  the  time  of  Tiberius  Caesar,  when 


AfUUPPINA. 


Pontius  Pilatus  was  propraetor  of  Palestine,  that 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  spent  three  years  in  teaching 
and  working  miracles ;  then  was  crucified  and  slain 
by  wicked  hands,  that  the  sin  of  mankind  might  be 
redeemed.  Then  He  rose  again  from  the  dead  and 
ascended  into  Heaven,  leaving  His  Apostles  to 
make  known  what  he  had  done  in  all  the  world. 


Tiberius  and   Caligula.  291 

To  the  East,  where  our  Lord  dwelt,  nay,  to  all 
the  rest  of  the  empire,  the  reign  of  Tiberius  was  a 
quiet  time,  with  the  good  government  arranged  by 
Augustus  working  on.  It  was  only  his  own  family, 
and  the  senators  and  people  of  rank  at  Rome,  who 
had  much  to  fear  from  his  strange,  harsh,  and  jeal- 
ous temper.  The  Claudian  family  had  in  all  times 
been  shy,  proud,  and  stern,  and  to  have  such  power 
as  belonged  to  Augustus  Csesar  was  more  than 
their  heads  could  bear.  Tiberius  hated  and  sus- 
pected everybody,  and  yet  he  did  not  like  putting- 
people  to  death,  so  he  let  Drusus  be  starved  to 
death  in  his  prison,  and  Agrippina  chose  the  same 
way  of  dying  in  her  island,  while  some  of  the  chief 
senators  received  such  messages  that  they  put 
themselves  to  death.  He  led  a  wretched  life, 
watching  for  treason  and  fearing  everybody,  and 
trying  to  drown  the  thought  of  danger  in  the  ban- 
quets of  Caprese,  where  the  remains  of  his  villa  may 
still  be  seen.  Once  he  set  out,  intending  to  visit 
Rome,  but  no  sooner  had  he  landed  in  Campania 
than  the  sight  of  hundreds  of  country  people  shout- 
ing welcome  so  disturbed  him  that  he  hastened  on 
board  ship  again,  and  thus  entered  the  Tiber  ;  but 
at  the  very  sight  of  the  hills  of  Rome  his  terror  re- 
turned, and   he   had   his   galley  turned  about  and 


292  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

went  back  to  his  island,  which  he  never  again 
quitted. 

Only  two  males  of  his  family  were  left  now — a 
great-nephew  and  a  nephew,  Cams,  that  son  of  the 
second  Germanicus  who  had  been  nicknamed  Calig- 
ula, a  youth  of  a  strange,  exciteable,  feverish  na 
ture,  but  who  from  his  fright  at  Tiberius  had  man- 
aged to  keep  the  peace  with  him,  and  had  only  once 
been  for  a  short  time  in  disgrace  ;  and  his  uncle, 
the  youngest  son  of  the  first  Germanicus,  com- 
monly called  Claudius,  a  very  dull,  heavy  man, 
fond  of  books,  but  so  slow  and  shy  that  he  was 
considered  to  be  wanting  in  brains,  and  thus  had 
never  fallen  under  suspicion. 

At  length  Tiberius  fell  ill,  and  when  he  was 
known  to  be  dying,  he  was  smothered  with  pillows 
as  he  began  to  recover  from  a  fainting  fit,  lest  he 
should  take  vengeance  on  those  who  had  for  a 
moment  thought  him  dead.  He  died  a.d.  37,  and 
the  power  went  to  Caligula,  properly  called  Caius, 
who  was  only  twenty-five,  and  who  began  in  a 
kindly,  generous  spirit,  which  pleased  the  people 
and  gave  them  hope  ;  but  to  have  so  much  power 
was  too  much  for  his  brain,  and  he  can  only  be 
thought  of  as  mad,  especially  after  he  had  a  severe 
illness,  which  made  the  people  so  anxious  that  he 


Will  WTflW  Hi1,  jiW'l I 


Tiber  his  and   Caligula.  295 

was  puffed  up  with  the  notion  of  Ins  own  impor- 
tance. 

He  put  to  death  all  who  offended,  him,  and, 
inheriting  some  of  Tiberius'  distrust  and  hatred  of 
the  people,  he  cried  out,  when  they  did  not  admire 
one  of  his  shows  as  much  as  he  expected,  "  Would 
that  the  people  of  Rome  had  but  one  neck,  so  that 
I  might  behead  them  all  at  once.''  He  planned 
great  public  buildings,  but  had  not  steadiness  to 
carry  them  out ;  and  he  became  so  greedy  of  the 
fame  which,  poor  wretch,  he  could  not  earn,  that 
he  was  jealous  even  of  the  dead.  He  burned  the 
books  of  Livy  and  Virgil  out  of  the  libraries,  and 
deprived  the  statues  of  the  great  men  of  old  of  the 
marks  by  winch  they  were  known  —  Cincinnatus 
of  his  curls,  and  Torquatus  of  his  collar,  and  he  for- 
bade the  last  of  the  Pompeii  to  be  called  Magnus. 

He  made  an  expedition  into  Gaul,  and  talked  of 
conquering  Britain,  but  he  got  no  further  than  the 
shore  of  the  channel,  where,  instead  of  setting  sail, 
he  bade  the  soldiers  gather  up  shells,  which  he 
sent  home  to  the  Senate  to  be  placed  among  the 
treasures  of  the  Capitol,  calling  them  the  spoils  of 
the  conquered  ocean.  Then  he  collected  the  Ger- 
man slaves  and  the  tallest  Gauls  he  could  find,  com- 
manded the  latter  to  dye  their  hair  and  beards  to  a 


296  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome, 

light  color,  and  brought  them  home  to  walk  in  his 
triumph.  The  Senate,  however,  were  slow  to  un- 
derstand that  he  could  really  expect  a  triumph, 
and  this  affronted  him  so  much  that,  when  they 
offered  him  one,  he  would  not  have  it,  and  went  on 
insulting  them.  He  made  his  horse  a  consul, 
though  only  for  a  day,  and  showed  it  with  golden 
oats  before  it  in  a  golden  manger.  Once,  when 
the  two  consuls  were  sitting  by  him,  he  burst  out 
laughing,  to  think,  he  said,  how  with  one  word  he 
could  make  both  their  heads  roll  on  the  floor. 

The  provinces  were  not  so  ill  off,  but  the  state  of 
Rome  was  unbearable.  Everybody  was  in  danger^ 
and  at  last  a  plot  was  formed  for  his  death  ;  and  as 
he  was  on  his  way  from  his  house  to  the  circus,  and 
stopped  to  look  at  some  singers  who  were  going  to 
perform,  a  party  of  men  set  upon  him  and  killed 
him  with  many  wounds,  after  he  had  reigned  only 
five  years,  and  when  he  was  but  thirty  years  old. 


CHAPTER     XXXII. 

CLAUDIUS    AND    NERO. 

a.d.  41—68. 

¥])OOR  dull  Claudius  heard  an  uproar  and  hid 
-■■  himself,  thinking  he  was  going  to  be  mur- 
dered like  his  nephew,  but  still  worse  was  going  to 
befall  him.  They  were  looking  for  him  to  make 
him  Emperor,  for  he  was  the  last  of  his  family.  He 
was  clumsy  in  figure,  though  his  face  was  good,  and 
he  was  a  kind-hearted  man,  who  made  large  prom- 
ises, and  tried  to  do  well ;  but  he  was  slow  and 
timid,  and  let  himself  be  led  by  wicked  men  and 
women,  so  that  his  rule  ended  no  better  than  that 
of  the  former  Caesars. 

He  began  in  a  spirited  way,  by  sending  troops 

who  conquered   the  southern  part  of  Britain,  and 

making   an    expedition  thither  himself.     His  wife 

chose  to  share  his  triumph,  which  was  not,  as  usual, 

297 


298 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


a  drive  in  a  chariot,  but  a  sitting  in  armor  on  their 
thrones,  with  the  eagles  and  standards  over  their 
heads,  and  the  prisoners  led  up  before  them. 
Among  them  came  the  great  British  chief  Carac- 
tacus,  who  is  said  to  have  declared  that  he  could 
not  think  why  those  who  had  such  palaces  as  there 
were  at  Rome  should  want  the  huts  of  the  Britons. 
Claudius  was  kind  to  the  people  in  the  distant 
provinces.  He  gave  the 
Jews  a  king  again,  Herod 
Agrippa,  the  grandson  of 
the  first  Herod,  who  was 
much  loved  by  them,  but 
died  suddenly  after  a  few 
years  at  Csesarea,  after 
the  meeting  with  the  Tyr- 
ians,  when  he  let  them 
greet  him  as  a  god.  There 
were  a  great  many  Jews 
living  at  Rome,  but  those 
from  Jerusalem  quarrelled 
with  those  from  Alexandria ;  and  one  year,  when 
there  was  a  great  scarcity  of  corn,  Claudius  ban- 
ished them  all  from  Rome. 

Claudius  was  very  unhappy  in  his  wives.     Two 
he  divorced,  and  then  married  a  third  named  Mes- 


(JLAUDIUS. 


Claudius  and  Nero.  299 

salina,  who  was  given  up  to  all  kinds  of  wicked- 
ness which  he  never  guessed  at,  while  she  used  all 
manner  of  arts  to  keep  up  her  beauty  and  to  deceive 
him.  At  last  she  actually  married  a  young  man 
while  Claudius  was  absent  from  Rome ;  but  when 
this  came  to  his  knowledge,  he  had  her  put  to 
death.  His  last  wife  was,  however,  the  worst  of 
all.  She  was  the  daughter  of  the  good  Germani- 
icus,  and  bore  her  mother's  name  of  Agrippina. 
She  had  been  previously  married  to  Lucius  Domit- 
ius  iEnobarbus,  by  whom  she  had  a  son,  whom 
Claudius  adopted  when  he  married  her,  though  he 
had  a  child  of  his  own  called  Britannicus,  son  to 
Messalina.  Romans  had  never  married  their  nieces 
before,  but  the  power  of  the  Emperors  was  leading 
them  to  trample  down  all  law  and  custom,  and  it 
was  for  the  misfortune  of  Claudius  that  he  did  so  in 
this  case,  for  Agrippina's  purpose  was  to  put  every 
one  out  of  the  way  of  her  own  son,  who,  taking  all 
the  Claudian  and  Julian  names  in  addition  to  his 
own,  is  commonly  known  as  Nero.  She  married 
him  to  Claudius'  daughter  Octavia,  and  then,  after 
much  tormenting  the  Emperor,  she  poisoned  him 
with  a  dish  of  mushrooms,  and  bribed  his  physician 
to  take  care  that  he  did  not  recover.  He  died  a.d. 
54,  and,  honest  and  true-hearted  as  he  had  been, 


300  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

the  Rumans  were  glad  to  be  rid  of  him,  and  told 
mocking  stories  of  him.  Indeed,  they  were  very 
bad  in  all  ways  themselves,  and  many  of  the  ladies 
were  poisoners  like  Agrippina,  so  that  the  city  al- 
most deserved  the  tyrant  who  came  after  Claudius. 
Nero,  the  son  of  Agrippina  by  her  first  marriage, 
and  Britannicus,  the  son  of  Claudius  and  Messa- 
lina,  were  to  reign  together ;  but  Nero  was  the 
elder,  and  as  soon  as  Ids  poor  young  cousin  came  to 
manhood,  Agrippina  had  a  dose  of  poison  ready  for 
him. 

Nero,  however,  began  well.  He  had  been  well 
brought  up  by  Seneca,  an  excellent  student  of  the 
Stoic  philosophy,  who,  with  Burrhus,  the  com- 
mander of  the  Prsetorian  Guard,  guided  the  young 
Emperor  with  good  advice  through  the  first  five 
years  of  his  reign;  and  though  his  wicked  mother 
called  herself  Augusta,  and  had  equal  honors  paid 
her  with  her  son,  not  much  harm  was  done  to  the 
government  till  Nero  fell  in  love  with  a  wicked 
woman,  Poppsea  Sabina,  who  was  a  proverb  for 
vanity,  and  was  said  to  keep  five  hundred  she-asses 
that  she  might  bathe  in  their  milk  to  preserve  her 
complexion.  Nero  wanted  to  marry  this  lady,  and 
as  his  mother  befriended  his  neglected  wife  Octavia, 
he  ordered  that  when  she  went  to  her  favorite  villa 


Claudius  and  Nero. 


301 


at  Baire  her  galley  should  be  wrecked,  and  if  she  was 
not  drowned,  she  should  be  stabbed.  Octavia  was 
divorced,  sent  to  an  island,  and  put  to  death  there  ; 
and  after  Nero  married  Poppaea,  he  quickly  grew 
more  violent  and  savage. 

Burrhus  died  about  the  same  time,  and  Seneca 
alone  could  not  restrain  the 
Emperor  from  his  foolish 
vanity.  He  would  descend 
into  the  arena  of  the  great 
amphitheatre  and  sing  to  the 
lyre  his  own  compositions  ; 
and  he  showed  off  his  char- 
ioteering in  the  circus  be- 
fore the  whole  assembled 
city,  letting  no  one  go  away 
till    the    performance   was  nbbo. 

over.  It  very  much  shocked  the  patricians,  but  the 
mob  were  delighted,  and  he  chiefly  cared  for  their 
praises.  He  was  building  a  huge  palace,  called  the 
Golden  House  because  of  its  splendid  decorations; 
and,  needing  money,  he  caused  accusations  to  be 
got  up  against  all  the  richer  men  that  he  might 
have  their  hoards. 

A  terrible  fire  broke  out  in  Rome,  which  raged 
for  six  days,  and  entirely  destroyed  fourteen  quar- 


302  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

ters  of  the  city.  While  it  was  burning,  Nero,  full 
of  excitement,  stood  watching  it,  and  sang  to  his 
lyre  the  description  of  the  burning  of  Troy.  A 
report  therefore  arose  that  he  had  actually  caused 
the  fire  for  the  amusement  of  watching  it ;  and  to 
put  this  out  of  men's  minds  he  accused  the  Chris- 
tians. The  Christian  faith  had  begun  to  be  known 
in  Rome  during  the  last  reign,  and  it  was  to  Nero, 
as  Caesar,  that  St.  Paul  had  appealed.  He  had 
spent  two  years  in  a  hired  house  of  his  own  at 
Rome,  and  thus  had  been  in  the  guard-room  of  the 
Praetorians,  but  he  was  released  after  being  tried 
at  "  Caesar's  judgment-seat,"  and  remained  at  large 
until  this  sudden  outburst  which  caused  the  first 
persecution.  Then  he  was  taken  at  Nicopolis,  and 
St.  Peter  at  Rome,  and  they  were  thrown  into  the 
Mamertine  dungeon.  Rome  counts  St.  Peter  as 
her  first  bishop.  On  the  29th  of  June,  A.D.  66, 
both  suffered  ;  St.  Paul,  as  a  Roman  citizen,  being 
beheaded  with  the  sword  ;  St.  Peter  crucified,  with 
his  head,  by  his  own  desire,  downwards.  Many 
others  suffered  at  the  same  time,  some  being  thrown 
to  the  beasts,  while  others  were  wrapped  in  cloths 
covered  with  pitch,  and  slowly  burnt  to  light  the 
games  in  the  Emperor's  gardens.  At  last  the  peo- 
ple were  shocked,  and  cried  out  for  these  horrors 


Claudius  and  Nero.  303 

to  end.  And  Nero,  who  cared  for  the  people, 
turned  his  hatred  and  cruelty  against  men  of  higher 
class  whose  fate  they  heeded  less.  So  common 
was  it  to  have  a  message  advising  a  man  to  put 
himself  to  death  rather  than  be  sentenced,  that 
every  one  had  studied  easy  ways  of  dying.  Nero's 
old  tutor,  Seneca,  felt  his  tyranny  unbearable,  and 
had  joined  in  a  plot  for  overthrowing  him,  but  it 
was  found  out,  and  Senaca  had  to  die  by  his  own 
hand.  The  way  he  chose,  and  his  wife  too  for  his 
sake,  was  to  open  their  veins,  get  into  a  warm  bath, 
and  bleed  to  death. 

Nero  made  a  journey  to  Greece,  and  showed  off 
at  Olympus  and  the  Isthmus,  at  the  same  time 
robbing  the  Greek  cities  of  numbers  of  their  best 
statues  and  reliefs  to  adorn  Ins  Golden  House  ;  for 
the  Romans  had  no  original  art  —  they  could  only 
imitate  the  Greeks  and  employ  Greek  artists.  But 
danger  was  closing  in  on  Nero.  Such  an  Emperor 
could  be  endured  no  longer,  and  the  generals  of 
the  armies  in  the  provinces  began  to  threaten  him, 
they  not  being  smitten  dumb  and  helpless  as  every 
one  at  Rome  seemed  to  be. 

The  Spanish  army,  under  an  officer  named  Galba, 
who  was  seventy-two  years  old,  but  to  whom  Au- 
gustus had  said  when  he  was  a  little  boy,  "  You 


304  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

too  shall  share  my  taste  of  empire,'1  began  to  move 
homewards  to  attack  the  tyrant,  and  the  army  from 
Gaul  advanced  to  join  it.  Nero  went  nearly  wild 
with  fright,  sometimes  raging,  sometimes  tearing 
his  hair  and  clothes  ;  and  the  people  began  to  turn 
against  him  in  anger  at  a  dearth  of  corn,  saying  he 
spent  everything  on  his  own  pleasures.  As  Galba 
came  nearer,  the  nobles  and  knights  hoped  for  de- 
liverance, and  the  Praetorian  Guard  showed  that 
they  meant  to  join  their  fellow-soldiers,  and  would 
not  fight  for  him.  The  wretched  Emperor  found 
himself  alone,  and  vainly  called  for  some  one  to 
kill  him,  for  he  had  not  nerve  to  do  it  himself.  He 
fled  to  a  villa  in  the  country,  and  wandered  in  the 
woods  till  he  heard  that,  if  he  Avas  caught,  he 
would  be  put  to  death  in  the  "  ancient  fashion," 
which  he  was  told  was  being  fixed  with  his  neck 
in  a  forked  stick  and  beaten  to  death.  Then,  hear- 
ing the  hoofs  of  the  horses  of  his  pursuers,  he  set  a 
sword  against  his  breast  and  made  a  slave  drive  it 
home,  and  was  groaning  his  last  when  the  horse- 
men came  up.  He  was  but  30  years  old,  and  was 
the  last  Emperor  who  could  trace  any  connection, 
even  by  adoption,  with  Augustus.  He  perished 
a.  d.  68. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

THE      FLAVIAN      FAMILY. 
62—96. 

THE  ablest  of  all  Nero's  officers  was  Titus 
Flavius  Vespasian  us,  a  stern,  rigid  old  sol- 
dier, who,  with  his  son  of  the  same  name,  was  in 
the  East,  preparing  to  put  down  a  great  rising  of 
the  Jews.  He  waited  to  see  what  was  going  to 
happen,  and  in  a  very  few  weeks  old  Galba  had 
offended  the  soldiers  by  his  saving  waj^s  ;  there 
was  a  rising  against  him,  and  another  soldier  named 
Otho  became  Emperor  ;  but  the  legions  from  Gaul 
marched  up  under  Vitellius  to  dethrone  him,  and 
he  killed  himself  to  prevent  other  bloodshed. 

When  the  Eastern  army  heard  of  these  changes, 
they  declared  they  would  make  an  Emperor  like 
the  soldiers  of  the  West,  and  hailed  Vespasian  as 
305 


306  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Emperor.  He  left  his  son  Titus  to  subdue  Judea, 
and  set  out  himself  for  Italy,  where  Vitellius  had 
given  himself  up  to  riot  and  feasting.  There  was 
a  terrible  fight  and  fire  in  the  streets  of  Rome 
itself,  and  the  Gauls,  who  chiefly  made  up  Vitellius' 
army,  did  even  more  mischief  than  the  Gauls  of  old 
under  Brennus ;  but  at  last  Vespasian  triumphed. 
Vitellius  was  taken,  and,  after  being  goaded  along 
with  the  point  of  a  lance,  was  put  to  death.  There 
had  been  eighteen  months  of  confusion,  and  Ves- 
pasian began  his  reign  in  the  year  70. 

It  was  just  then  that  his  son  Titus,  having  taken 
all  the  strongholds  in  Galilee,  though  they  were 
desperately  defended  by  the  Jews,  had  advanced 
to  besiege  Jerusalem.  All  the  Christians  had 
heeded  the  warning  that  our  blessed  Lord  had  left 
them,  and  were  safe  at  a  city  in  the  hills  called 
Pella ;  but  the  Jews  who  were  left  within  were 
fiercely  quarrelling  among  themselves,  and  fought 
with  one  another  as  savagely  as  they  fought  with 
the  enemy.  Titus  threw  trenches  round  and  block- 
aded the  city ;  and  the  famine  within  grew  to  be 
most  horrible.  Some  died  in  their  houses,  but  the 
fierce  lawless  zealots  rushed  up  and  down  the 
streets,  breaking  into  the  houses  where  they  thought 
food  was  to  be  found.     When  they  smelt  roasting 


The  Flavian  Family.  307 

in  one  grand  dwelling  belonging  to  a  lady,  they 
rushed  in  and  asked  for  the  meat,  but  even  they 
turned  away  in  horror  when  she  uncovered  the 
remains  of  her  own  little  child,  whom  she  had  been 
eating.  At  last  the  Roman  engines  broke  down 
the  walls  of  the  lower  city,  and  with  desperate 
struggling  the  Romans  entered,  and  found  every 
house  full  of  dead  women  and  children.  Still  they 
had  the  Temple  to  take,  and  the  Jews  had  gathered 
there,  fancying  that,  at  the  worst,  the  Messiah  would 
appear  and  save  them.  Alas  !  they  had  rejected 
Him  long  ago,  and  this  was  the  time  of  judgment. 
The  Romans  fought  their  way  in,  up  the  marble 
steps,  slippery  with  blood  and  choked  with  dead 
bodies ;  and  fire  raged  round  them.  Titus  would 
have  saved  the  Holy  Place  as  a  wonder  of  the 
world,  but  a  soldier  threw  a  torch  through  a  golden 
latticed  window,  and  the  flame  spread  rapidly. 
Titus  had  just  time  to  look  round  on  all  the  rich 
gilding  and  marbles  before  it  sank  into  ruins.  He 
took  a  terrible  vengeance  on  the  Jews.  Great 
numbers  were  crucified,  and  the  rest  were  either 
taken  to  the  amphitheatres  all  over  the  empire  to 
fight  with  wild  beasts,  or  were  sold  as  slaves,  in  such 
numbers  that,  cheap  as  they  were,  no  one  would 
buy  them.     And    }-et   this    wonderful    nation    has 


308 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


lived  on  in  its  dispersion  ever  since.  The  city  was 
utterly  overthrown  and  sown  with  salt,  and  such 
treasures  as  could  be  saved  from  the  fire  were  car- 
ried in  the  triumph  of  Titus  —  namely,  the  shew- 
bread  table,  the   seven-branched   candlestick,  and 


^^s^^^^^^^^^^m"' ' 


ARCH  OF  TITUS. 


the  silver  trumpets  —  and  laid  up  as  usual  among 
the  spoils  dedicated  to  Jupiter.  Their  figures  are 
to  be  seen  sculptured  on  the  triumphal  arch  built 
in  honor  of  Titus,  which  still  stands  at  Rome. 

These  Flavian  Caesars  were  great  builders.    Much 
had  to  be  restored  at  Rome  after  the  two  great 


The  Flavian  Family.  309 

fires,  and  they  built  a  new  Capitol  and  new  Forum, 
besides  pulling  down  Nero's  Golden  House,  and 
setting  up  on  part  of  the  site  the  magnificent  baths 
known  as  the  Baths  of  Titus.  Going  to  the  bath, 
to  be  steamed,  rubbed,  anointed,  and  perfumed  by 
the  slaves,  was  the  great  amusement  of  an  idle 
Roman's  day,  for  in  the  waiting-rooms  he  met  all 
his  friends  and  heard  the  news  ;  and  these  rooms 
were  splendid  halls,  inlaid  with  marble,  and  adorned 
with  the  statues  and  pictures  Nero  had  brought 
from  Greece.  On  part  of  the  gardens  was  begun 
what  was  then  called  the  Flavian  Amphitheatre, 
but  is  now  known  as  the  Colosseum,  from  the 
colossal  statue  that  stood  at  its  door  —  a  wonderful 
place,  with  a  succession  of  galleries  on  stone  vaults 
round  the  area,  on  which  every  rank  and  station, 
from  the  Emperor  and  Vestal  Virgins  down  to  the 
slaves,  had  their  places,  whence  to  see  gladiators 
and  beasts  struggle  and  perish,  on  sands  mixed 
with  scarlet  grains  to  hide  the  stain,  and  perfumed 
showers  to  overcome  the  scent  of  blood,  and  under 
silken  embroidered  awnings  to  keep  off  the  sun. 

Vespasian  was  an  upright  man,  and  though  he 
was  stern  and  unrelenting,  his  reign  was  a  great 
relief  after  the  capricious  tyranny  of  the  last 
Claudii.     He  and  his  eldest  son  Titus  were  plain 


310  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

and  simple  in  their  habits,  and  tried  to  put  down 
the  horrid  riot  and  excess  that  were  ruining  the 
Romans,  and  they  were  feared  and  loved.  They 
had  great  successes  too.  Britain  was  subdued  and 
settled  as  far  as  the  northern  hills,  and  a  great 
rising  in  Eastern  Gaul  subdued.  Vespasian  was 
accused  of  being  avaricious,  but  Nero  had  left  the 
treasury  in  such  a  state  that  he  could  hardty  have 
governed  without  being  careful.  He  died  in  the 
year  79,  at  seventy  years  old.  When  he  found 
himself  almost  gone,  he  desired  to  be  lifted  to  his 
feet,  saying  that  an  Emperor  should  die  standing. 

He  left  two  sons,  Titus  and  Domitian.  Titus 
was  more  of  a  scholar  than  his  father,  and  was  gen- 
tle and  kindly  in  manner,  so  that  he  was  much  be- 
loved. He  used  to  say,  "  I  have  lost  a  day,"  when 
one  went  by  without  his  finding  some  kind  act  to  do. 
He  was  called  the  delight  of  mankind,  and  his  reign 
would  have  been  happy  but  for  another  great  fire 
in  Rome,  which  burnt  what  Nero's  fire  had  left. 
In  his  time,  too,  Mount  Vesuvius  suddenly  woke 
from  its  rest,  and  by  a  dreadful  eruption  destroyed 
the  two  cities  at  its  foot,  Herculaneum  and  Pom- 
peii. The  philosopher  Plinius,  who  wrote  on 
geography  and  natural  history,  was  stifled  by  the  sul- 
phurous air  while  fleeing  from  the  showers  of  stones. 


The  Flavian  Family.  313 

and  ashes  cast  up  by  the  mountain.  His  nephew, 
called  Pliny  the  younger,  has  left  a  full  account  of 
the  disaster,  and  the  cloud  like  a  pine  tree  that 
hung  over  the  mountain,  the  noises,  the  earthquake, 
and  the  fall  at  last  of  the  ashes  and  lava.  Drusilla, 
the  wife  of  Felix,  the  governor  before  whom  St. 
Paul  pleaded,  also  perished.  Herculaneum  was 
covered  with  solid  lava,  so  that  very  little  could  be 
recovered  from  it ;  but  Pompeii,  being  overwhelmed 
with  dust  or  ashes,  was  only  choked,  and  in  modern 
days  has  been  discovered,  showing  perfectly  what  an 
old  Roman  town  was  like  —  amphitheatre,  shops, 
bake-houses,  and  all.  Some  skeletons  have  been 
found :  a  man  with  his  keys  in  a  cellar  full  of  treasure, 
a  priest  crushed  by  a  statue  of  Isis,  a  family  crowded 
into  a  vault,  a  sentry  at  his  post ;  and  in  other 
cases  the  ashes  perfectly  moulded  the  impression  of 
the  figure  they  stifled,  and  on  pouring  plaster  into 
them  the  forms  of  the  victims  have  been  recovered, 
especially  two  women,  elder  and  younger,  just  as 
they  fell  at  the  gate,  the  girl  with  her  head  hidden 
in-^er  mother's  robe. 

Titus  died  the  next  year,  and  his  son-in-law 
Tacitus,  who  wrote  the  history  of  those  reigns,  laid 
the  blame  on  his  brother  Domitian,  who  was  as 
cruel    and   savage    a    tyrant    as    Nero.     He   does 


314 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


seem  to  have  been  shocked  at  the  wickedness  of 
the  Romans.  Even  the  Vestal  Virgins  had  grown 
shameless,  and  there  was  hardly  a  girl  of  the  patri- 
cian families  in  Rome  well  brought  up  enough  to  be- 
come one.  The  blame  was  laid  on  forsaking  the  old 
religion,  and  what  the  Romans  called   "Judaising," 


PERSKCUTION    OF   THE    CHRISTIANS. 


which  meant  Christianity,  was  persecuted  again. 
Flavius  Clemens,  a  cousin  of  the  Emperor,  was 
thus  accused  and  put  to  death ;  and  probably  it 
was  this  which  led  to  St.  John,  the  last  of  the 
Apostles,  being  brought  to  Rome  and  placed  in  a 


The  Flavian  Family.  315 

cauldron  of  boiling  oil  by  the  Lateran  Gate ;  but 
a  miracle  was  wrought  in  his  behalf,  and  the  oil  did 
him  no  hurt,  upon  which  he  was  banished  to  the 
Isle  of  Patmos. 

The  Colosseum  was  opened  in  Domitian's  time, 
and  the  shows  of  gladiators,  fights  with  beasts,  and 
even  sea-fights,  when  the  arena  was  flooded,  ex- 
ceeded all  that  had  gone  before.  There  were  fights 
between  women  and  women,  dwarfs  and  cranes. 
There  is  an  inscription  at  Rome  which  has  made 
some  believe  that  the  architect  of  the  Colosseum 
was  one  Gandentius,  who  afterwards  perished  there 
as  a  Christian. 

Domitian  affronted  the  Romans  by  wearing  a 
gold  crown  with  little  figures  of  the  gods  on  it. 
He  did  strange  things.  Once  he  called  together  all 
his  council  in  the  middle  of  the  night  on  urgent 
business,  and  while  they  expected  to  hear  of  some 
foreign  enemy  on  the  borders,  a  monstrous  turbot 
was  brought  in,  and  they  were  consulted  whether 
it  was  to  be  cut  in  pieces  or  have  a  dish  made  on 
purpose  for  it.  Another  time  he  invited  a  number 
of  guests,  and  they  found  themselves  in  a  black 
marble  hall,  with  funeral  couches,  each  man's  name 
graven  on  a  column  like  a  tomb,  a  feast  laid  as  at  a 
funeral,  and  black  boys  to  wait  on  them !     This 


316  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

time  it  was  only  a  joke ;  but  Domitian  did  but  so 
many  people  to  death  that  he  grew  frightened  lest 
vengeance  should  fall  on  Mm,  and  he  had  his  halls 
lined  with  polished  marble,  that  he  might  see  as  in 
a  glass  if  any  one  approached  him  from  behind. 
But  this  did  not  save  him.  His  wife  found  that  he 
meant  to  put  her  to  death,  and  contrived  that  a 
party  of  servants  should  murder  him,  a.d.  96. 

/ 


COIN  OF  NERO. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

THE   AGE   OF   THE   ANTOKDSTES. 
96—194. 

"T^VOMITIAN  is  called  the  last  of  the  twelve 

*S     Caesars,  though   all    who   came   after   him 

called  themselves  Csesar.     He  had  no  son,  and  a 

highly  esteemed  old  senator  named  Cocceius  Nerva 

became  Emperor.     He  was  an  upright  man,  who 

tried  to  restore  the  old  Roman  spirit ;  and  as  he 

thought  Christianity  was  only  a  superstition  which 

spoiled   the    ancient  temper,  he    enacted   that   all 

should  die  who  would  not  offer  incense  to  the  gods, 

and  among  these  died  St.  Ignatius,  Bishop  of  An- 

tioch,  who  had  been  bred  up  among  the  Apostles. 

He  was  taken  to  Rome,  saw  his  friend  St.  Polycarp, 

Bishop  of  Smyrna,  on  the  way,  and  wrote  him  one 

of  a  set  of  letters  which  remain  to   this  day.     He 

was  then  thrown  to  the  lions  in  the  Colosseum. 

It  seems  strange  that  the  good  Emperors  were 
317 


318  Young  Folks  History  of  Rome. 

often  worse  persecutors  than  the  bad  ones,  but  the 
fact  was  that  the  bad  ones  let  the  people  do  as  they 
pleased,  as  long  as  they  did  not  offend  them  ;  while 
the  good  ones  were  trying  to  bring  back  what  they 
read  of  in  Livy's  history,  of  plain  living  and  high 
thinking,  and  shut  their  ears  to  knowing  more  of 
the  Christians  than  that  they  were  people  who  did 
not  worship  the  gods.  Moreover,  Julius  Trajanus, 
whom  Nerva  adopted,  and  who  began  to  reign  after 
him  in  98,  did  not  persecute  actively,  but  there 
were  laws  in  force  against  the  Christians.  When 
Pliny  the  younger  was  propraetor  of  the  province 
of  Pontica  in  Asia  Minor,  he  wrote  to  ask  the  Em- 
peror what  to  do  about  the  Christians,  telling  him 
what  he  had  been  able  to  find  out  about  them  from 
two  slave  girls  who  had  been  tortured ;  namely, 
that  they  were  wont  to  meet  together  at  night  or 
early  morning,  to  sing  together,  and  eat  what  he 
called  a  harmless  social  meal.  Trajan  answered 
that  he  need  not  try  to  hunt  them  out,  but  that,  if 
they  were  brought  before  him,  the  law  must  take 
its  course.  In  Rome,  the  chief  refuge  of  the  Chris- 
tians was  in  the  Catacombs,  or  quarries  of  tufa, 
from  which  the  city  was  chiefly  built,  and  which 
vere  hollowed  out  in  long  galleries.  Slaves  and 
'Puvicts  worked  them,  and  they  were  thus  made? 


The  Age  of  the  Antonines. 


>19 


known  to  the  Christians,  who  buried  their  dead  in 
places  hollowed  at  the  sides,  used  the  galleries  for 
their  churches,  and  often  hid  there  when  there  was 
search  made  for  them. 


EjHhUi   OF   AWiuNlNUS   -^iMU    FAUSTIiiA. 


Trajan  was  so  good  a  ruler  that  he  bears  the  title 
of  Optimus,  the  Best,  as  no  one  else  has  ever  done. 
He  was  a  great  captain  too,  and  conquered  Dacia, 
the  country  between  the  rivers  Danube,  Theiss, 
and  Pruth,  and  the  Carpathian  Hills ;  and  he  also 


320  Young  Folks'1  History  of  Rome. 

defeated  the  Parthians,  and  said  if  he  had  been  a 
younger  man  he  would  have  gone  as  far  as  Alex- 
ander. As  it  was,  the  empire  was  at  its-  very 
largest  in  his  reign,  and  he  was  a  very  great  builder 
and  improver,  so  that  one  of  his  successors  called 
him  a  wall-flower,  because  his  name  was  everywhere 
to  be  seen  on  walls  and  bridges  and  roads  —  some 
of  which  still  remain,  as  does  his  tall  column  at 
Rome,  with  a  spiral  line  of  his  conquests  engraven 
round  it  from  top  to  bottom.  He  was  on  his  way 
back  from  the  East  when,  in  117,  he  died  at  Cilicia, 
leaving  the  empire  to  another  brave  warrior,  Pub- 
lius  ^E tius  Haclrianus,  who  took  the  command  with 
great  vigor,  but  found  he  could  not  keep  Dacia, 
and  broke  down  the  bridge  over  the  Danube.  He 
came  to  Britain,  where  the  Roman  settlements 
were  tormented  by  the  Picts.  There  he  built  the 
famous  Roman  wall  from  sea  to  sea  to  keep  them 
out.  He  was  wonderfully  active,  and  hastened 
from  one  end  of  the  empire  to  the  other  wherever  his 
presence  was  needed.  There  was  a  revolt  of  the 
Jews  in  the  far  East,  under  a  man  who  pretended 
to  be  the  Messiah,  and  called  himself  the  Son  of  a 
Star.  This  was  put  down  most  severely,  and  no 
Jew  was  allowed  to  come  near  Jerusalem,  over 
which  a  new  city  was  built,  and  called  after  the 


The  Age  of  the  Antonines.  321 

Emperor's  second  name,  ^Elia  Capitolina  j  and,  to 
drive  the  Jews  further  away,  a  temple  to  Jupiter 
was  built  where  the  Temple  had  been,  and  one  to 
Venus  on  Mount  Calvary. 

But  Hadrian  did  not  persecute,  and  listened 
kindly  to  an  explanation  of  the  faith  which  was 
shown  him  at  Athens  by  Quadratus,  a  Christian 
philosopher.  Hadrian  built  himself  a  grand  tower- 
like monument,  surrounded  by  stages  of  columns 
and  arches,  which  was  to  be  called  the  Mole  of 
Hadrian,  and  still  stands,  though  stripped  of  its 
ornaments.  Before  his  death,  in  138,  he  had 
chosen  his  successor,  Titus  Aurelius  Antoninus,  a 
good  upright  man,  a  philosopher,  and  52  years  old ; 
for  it  had  been  found  that  youths  who  became  Em- 
perors had  their  heads  turned  by  such  unbounded 
power,  while  elder  men  cared  for  the  work  and 
duty.  Antoninus  was  so  earnest  for  his  people's 
welfare  that  they  called  him  Pius.  He  avoided 
wars,  only  defended  the  empire  ;  but  he  was  a  great 
builder,  for  he  raised  another  rampart  in  Britain, 
much  further  north,  and  set  up  another  column  at 
Rome,  and  in  Gaul  built  a  great  amphitheatre  at 
Nismes,  and  raised  the  wonderful  aqueduct  which 
is  still  standing,  and  is  called  the  Pont  du  Gard. 

His  son-in-law,  whom  he  adopted  and  who  sue- 


322  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

ceeded  him,  is  commonly  called  Marcus  Aurelius, 
as  a  choice  among  his  many  names.  He  was  a  deep 
student  and  Stoic  philosopher,  with  an  earnest 
longing  for  truth  and  virtue,  though  he  knew  not 
how  to  seek  them  where  alone  they  could  be  found  ; 
and  when  earthquake,  pestilence  and  war  fell  on 
his  empire,  and  the  people  thought  the  gods  were 
offended,  he  let  them  persecute  the  Christians, 
whose  faith  he  despised,  because  the  hope  of  Resur- 
rection and  of  Heaven  seemed  weak  and  foolish 
to  him  beside  his  stern,  proud,  hopeless  Stoicism. 
So  the  aged  Polycarp,  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  the  last 
pupil  of  the  Apostles  themselves,  was  sentenced  to 
be  burnt  in  the  theatre  of  his  own  city,  though,  as 
the  fire  curled  round  him  in  a  curtain  of  flame 
without  touching  him,  he  was  actually  slain  with  the 
sword.  And  in  Gaul,  especially  at  Vienne,  there 
was  a  fearful  persecution  which  fell  on  women  of 
all  ranks,  and  where  Blandina  the  slave,  under  the 
most  unspeakable  torments,  was  specially  noted  for 
her  brave  patience. 

Aurelius  was  fighting  hard  with  the  German 
tribes  on  the  Danube,  who  gave  him  no  rest,  and 
threatened  to  break  into  the  empire.  While  pur- 
suing them,  he  and  his  army  were  shut  into  a  strong 
place   where  they  could   get  no  water,  and   were 


The  Age  of  the  Antonines.  323 

perishing  with  thirst,  when  a  whole  legion,  all 
Christian  soldiers,  knelt  down  and  prayed.  A  cloud 
came  up,  a  welcome  shower  of  rain  descended,  and 
was  the  saving  of  the  thirsty  host.  It  was  said  that 
the  name  of  the  Thundering  Legion  was  given  to 
this  division  in  consequence,  though  on  the  column 
reared  by  Aurelius  it  is  Jupiter  who  is  shown  send- 
ing rain  on  the  thirsty  host,  who  are  catching  it  in 
their  shields.  After  this  there  was  less  persecution, 
but  every  sort  of  trouble  —  plague,  earthquake, 
famine,  and  war  — beset  the  empire  on  all  sides,  and 
the  Emperor  toiled  in  vain  against  these  troubles, 
writing,  meantime,  meditations  that  show  how  sad 
and  sick  at  heart  he  was,  and  how  little  comfort 
philosophy  gave  him,  while  his  eyes  were  blind  to 
the  truth.  He  died  of  a  fever  in  his  camp,  while 
still  in  the  prime  of  life,  in  the  year  180,  and  with 
him  ended  the  period  of  good  Emperors,  which  the 
Romans  call  the  age  of  the  Antonines.  Aurelius 
was  indeed  succeeded  by  his  son  Commodus,  but 
he  was  a  foolish  good-for-nothing  youth,  who  would 
not  bear  the  fatigues  and  toils  of  real  war,  though  he 
had  no  shame  in  showing  off  in  the  arena,  and  is  said 
to  have  fought  there  seven  hundred  and  fifty  times, 
besides  killing  wild  beasts.  He  boasted  of  having 
slain  one  hundred  lions  with  one  hundred  arrows, 


324  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

and  a  whole  row  of  ostriches  with  half-moon  shaped 
arrows  which  cut  off  their  heads,  the  poor  things 
being  fastened  where  he  could  not  miss  them,  and 
the  Romans  applauding  as  if  for  some  noble  deed. 
They  let  him  reign  sixteen  years  before  he  was 
murdered,  and  then  a  good  old  soldier  named  Per- 
tinax  began  to  reign ;  but  the  Praetorian  Guard 
had  in  those  sixteen  years  grown  disorderly,  and 
the  moment  they  felt  the  pressure  of  a  firm  hand 
they  attacked  the  palace,  killed  the  Emperor,  cut 
off  his  head,  and  ran  with  it  to  the  senate-house, 
asking  who  would  be  Emperor.  An  old  senator 
was  foolish  enough  to  offer  them  a  large  sum  of 
they  would  choose  him,  and  this  put  it  into  their 
heads  to  rush  out  to  the  ramparts  and  proclaim 
that  they  would  sell  the  empire  to  the  highest 
bidder. 

A  vain,  old,  rich  senator,  named  Didius  Julianus, 
was  at  supper  with  his  family  when  he  heard  that 
the  Prsetorians  were  selling  the  empire  by  auction, 
and  out  he  ran,  and  actually  bought  it  at  the  rate 
of  about  ,£200  to  each  man.  The  Emperor  being 
really  the  commander-in-chief,  with  other  offices 
attached  to  the  dignity,  the  soldiers  had  a  sort  of 
right  to  the  choice ;  but  the  other  armies  at  a  dis- 
tance, who  were  really  fighting  and  guarding  the 


The  Age  of  the  Antonines. 


325 


empire,  had  no  notion  of  letting  the  matter  be 
settled  by  the  Praetorians,  mere  guardsmen,  who 
stayed  at  home  and  tried  to  rule  the  rest ;  so  each 
army  chose  its  own  general  and  marched  on  Rome, 
and  it  was  the  general  on  the  Danube,  Septimius 
Severus,  who  got  there  first :  whereupon  the  Prae- 
torians killed  their  foolish  Emperor  and  joined  him- 


MARCUS    AURELIUS. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

THE  PRAETORIAN   INFLUENCE. 

197—284. 

SEPTIMUS  SEVERUS  was  an  able  Emperor, 
and  reigned  a  long  time.  He  was  stern  and 
harsh,  as  was  needed  by  the  wickedness  of  the 
time  ;  and  he  was  very  active,  seldom  at  Rome,  but 
flashing  as  it  were  from  one  end  of  the  empire  to 
the  other,  wherever  he  was  needed,  and  keeping 
excellent  order.  There  was  no  regular  persecution 
of  the  Christians  in  his  time  ;  but  at  Lyons,  where 
the  townspeople  were  in  great  numbers  Christians, 
the  country-folk  by  some  sudden  impulse  broke  in 
and  made  a  horrible  massacre  of  them,  in  which  the 
bishop,  St.  Irenseus,  was  killed.  So  few  country 
people  were  at  this  time  converts,  that  Paganus,  a 
peasant,  came  to  be  used  as  a  term  for  a  heathen. 

Severus  was,  like   Trajan  and  Hadrian,  a  great 
326 


The  Praetorian  Influence. 


327 


builder  and  road-maker.  The  whole  empire  was 
connected  by  a  network  of  paved  roads  made  by 
the  soldiery,  cutting  through  hills,  bridging  valleys, 
straight,  smooth,  and  so  solid  that  they  remain  to 
to  this  day.  This  made'  communication  so  rapid 
that  government  was 
possible  to  an  active 
man  like  him.  He  gave 
the  Parthians  a  check  ; 
and,  when  an  old  man, 
came  to  Britain  and 
marched  far  north,  but 
he  saw  it  was  impos- 
sible to  guard  An- 
tonius'  wall  between 
the  Forth  and  Clyde, 
and  only  strengthened 
the  rampart  of  Hadrian  from  the  Tweed  to  the  Sol- 
way.  He  died  at  York,  in  211,  on  his  return,  and 
his  last  watchword  was  "  Labor  !  "  His  wife  was 
named  Julia  Domna,  and  he  left  two  sons,  usually 
called  Caracalla  and  Geta,  who  divided  the  empire ; 
but  Geta  was  soon  stabbed  by  his  brother's  own 
hand,  and  then  Caracalla  showed  himself  even 
worse  than  Commodus,  till  he  in  his  turn  was  mur- 
dered in  217. 


SEPTTMU.S     SEVERUS. 


328 


Young  Folks'1  History  of  Rome. 


His  mother,  Julia  Domna,  had  a  sister  called 
Julia  Ssemias,  who  lived  at  Antioch,  and  had  two 
daughters,  Ssemias  and  Mammsea,  who  each  had  a 
son,  Elagabalus  —  so  called  after  the  idol  supposed 
to  represent  the  sun,  whose  priest  at  Emesa  he  was — 
and  Alexander  Severus.     The  Praetorian  Guard,  hi 


their  difficulty  whom  to  chose  Emperor,  chose 
Elagabalus,  a  lad  of  nineteen,  who  showed  himself 
a  poor,  miserable,  foolish  wretch,  who  did  the  most 
absurd  things.  His  feasts  were  a  proverb  for  excess, 
and  even  his  lions  were  fed  on  parrots  and  pheas- 
ants.    Sometimes  he  would  get  together  a  festival 


The  Prcetorian  Influence. 


329 


party  of  all  fat  men,  or  all  thin,  all  tall,  or  short, 
all  bald,  or  gouty ;  and  at  others  he  would  keep 
the  wedding  of  his  namesake  god  and  Pallas, 
making  matches  between  the  gods  and  god- 
desses all  over  Italy ;  and  he  carried  on  his  service 
to   his  god   with   the    same    barbaric  dances  in  a 


ALEXANDER   SEVERUS. 


k  -range  costume  as  at  Emesa,  to  the  great  disgust 
oe  the  Romans.  His  grandmother  persuaded  him 
to  adopt  his  cousin  Alexander,  a  youth  of  much 
more  promise,  who  took  the  name  of  Severus.  The 
soldiers  were  charmed  with  him ;  Elagabalus  be- 
came jealous,  and  was  going  to  strip  him  of  his 
honors ;  but  this  angered  the  Praetorians,  so  that 
they  put  the  elder  Emperor  to  death  in  222. 


330  Young  Folks'   History  of  Borne. 

Alexander  Severus  was  a  good  and  just  prince, 
whose  mother  is  believed  to  have  been  a  Christian, 
and  he  had  certainly  learned  enough  of  the  Divine 
Law  to  love  virtue,  and  be  firm  while  he  was  for- 
bearing. He  loved  virtue,  but  he  did  not  accept 
the  faith,  and  would  only  look  upon  our  Blessed 
Lord  as  a  sort  of  great  philosopher,  placing  His 
statue  with  that  of  Abraham,  Orpheus,  and  all 
whom  he  thought  great  teachers  of  mankind,  in  a 
private  temple  of  his  own,  as  if  they  were  all  on  a 
level.  He  never  came  any  nearer  to  the  faith,  and 
after  thirteen  years  of  good  and  firm  government 
he  was  killed  in  a  mutiny  of  the  Praetorians  in  235. 

These  guards  had  all  the  power,  and  set  up  and 
put  down  Emperors  so  rapidly  that  there  are  hardly 
any  names  worth  remembering.  In  the  unsettled 
state  of  the  empire  no  one  had  time  to  persecute 
the  Christians,  and  their  numbers  grew  and  pros- 
pered ;  in  many  places  they  had  churches,  with 
worship  going  on  openly,  and  their  Bishops  were 
known  and  respected.  The  Emperor  Philip,  called 
the  Arabian,  who  was  actually  a  Christian,  though 
he  would  not  own  it  openly,  when  he  was  at  An- 
tioch,  joined  in  the  service  at  Easter,  and  presented 
himself  to  receive  the  Holy  Communion ;  but 
Bishop  Babylas  refused  him,  until  he   should  have 


The  Praetorian  Influence.  331 

done  open  penance  for  the  crimes  by  which  he  had 
come  to  the  purple,  and  renounced  all  remains  of 
heathenism.  He  turned  away  rebuked,  but  put 
off  his  repentance  ;  and  the  next  year  celebrated 
the  games  called  the  Seculse,  because  they  took 
place  every  Seculum  or  hundredth  year,  with  all 
their  heathen  ceremonies,  and  with  tenfold  splen- 
dor, in  honor  of  this  being  Rome's  thousandth 
birthday. 

Soon  after,  another  general  named  Decius  was 
chosen  by  the  army  on  the  German  frontier,  and 
Philip  was  killed  in  battle  with  him.  Decius  wanted 
to  be  an  old-fashioned  Roman ;  he  believed  in  the 
gods,  and  thought  the  troubles  of  the  empire  came  of 
forsaking  them  ;  and  as  the  Parthians  molested  the 
East,  and  the  Goths  and  Germans  the  North,  and 
the  soldiers  seemed  more  ready  to  kill  their  Em- 
perors than  the  enemy,  he  thought  to  win  back 
prosperity  by  causing  all  to  return  to  the  old  wor- 
ship, and  begun  the  worst  persecution  the  Church 
■had  yet  known.  Rome,  Antioch,  Carthage,  Alex- 
andria, and  all  the  chief  cities  were  searched  for 
Christians.  If  they  would  not  throw  a  handful  of 
incense  on  the  idol's  altar  or  disown  Christ,  they 
were  given  over  to  all  the  horrid  torments  cruel  in- 
genuity could  invent,  in  the  hope  of  subduing  their 


332 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


constancy.  Some  fell,  but  the  greater  number 
were  firm,  and  witnessed  a  glorious  confession  be- 
fore, in  251,  Decius  and  his  son  were  both  slain  in 
battle  in  Msesia. 

The  next  Emperor  whose  name  is  worth  remeim 
bering  was  Valerian,  who  had  to  make  war  against 


TEMPLE  OF  THE  SUN  AT  PALMYRA. 

the  Persians.  The  old  stock  of  Persian  kings,  pro- 
fessing to  be  descended  from  Cyrus,  and,  like  him, 
adoring  fire,  had  overcome  the  Parthians,  and  were 
spreading  the  Persian  power  in  the  East,  under 
their  king  Sapor,  who  conquered  Mesopotamia,  and 
on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  defeated  Valerian 


IHE    CATACOMBS    AT    ROME. 


333 


The  Praetorian  Influence.  335 

in  a  terrible  battle  at  Edessa.  Valerian  was  made 
prisoner,  and  kept  as  a  wretched  slave,  who  was 
forced  to  crouch  down  that  Sapor  might  climb  up 
by  his  back  when  mounting  on  horseback ;  and 
when  he  died,  his  skin  was  dyed  purple,  stuffed, 
and  hung  up  in  a  temple. 

The  best  resistance  made  to  Sapor  was  by  Ode- 
natus,  a  Syrian  chief,  and  his  beautiful  Arabian 
wife  Zenobia,  who  held  out  the  city  of  Palmyra, 
on  an  oasis  in  the  desert  between  Palestine  and 
Assyria,  till  Sapor  retreated.  Finding  that  no 
iiotice  was  taken  of  them  by  Rome,  they  called 
themselves  Emperor  and  Empress.  The  city  was 
very  beautifully  adorned  with  splendid  buildings 
in  the  later  Greek  style ;  and  Zenobia,  who  reigned 
with  her  young  sons  after  her  husband's  death,  was 
well  read  in  Greek  classics  and  philosophy,  and 
was  a  pupil  of  the  philosopher  Longinus.  Aurelian, 
becoming  Emperor  of  Rome,  came  against  this 
strange  little  kingdom,  and  was  bravely  resisted  by 
Zenobia ;  but  he  defeated  her,  made  her  prisoner, 
and  caused  her  to  march  in  his  triumph  to  Rome. 
She  afterwards  lived  with  her  children  in  Italy. 

Aurelian  saw  perils  closing  in  on  all  sides  of  the 
empire,  and  thought  it  time  to  fortify  the  city  of 
Rome  itself,  which  had  long  spread  beyond  the  old 


336  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

walls  of  Servius  Tullus.  He  traced  a  new  circuit, 
and  built  the  wall,  the  lines  of  which  are  the  same 
that  still  enclose  Rome,  though  the  wall  itself  has 
been  several  times  thrown  down  and  rebuilt.  He 
also  built  the  city  in  Gaul  which  still  bears  his 
name,  slightly  altered  into  Orleans.  He  was  one 
of  those  stern,  brave  Emperors,  who  vainly  tried  to 
bring  back  old  Roman  manners,  and  fancied  it  was 
Christianity  that  corrupted  them ;  and  he  was  just 
preparing  for  a  great  persecution  when  he  was  mur- 
dered in  his  tent,  and  there  were  three  or  four  more 
Emperors  set  up  and  then  killed  almost  as  soon  as 
their  reign  was  well  begun.  The  last  thirty  of 
them  are  sometimes  called  the  Thirty  T}rrants. 
This  power  of  the  Praetorian  Guard,  of  setting  up 
and  pulling  down  their  Emperor  as  being  primarily 
their  general,  lasted  altogether  fully  a  hundred 
years. 


COIN  OF  SEYERUS 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

THE    DIVISION    OF    THE    EMPIEE. 

284—312. 

A  DALMATIAN  soldier  named  Diocles  had 
been  told  by  a  witch  that  he  should  become 
Emperor  by  the  slaughter  of  a  boar.  He  became  a 
great  hunter,  but  no  wild  boar  that  he  killed  seemed 
to  bring  him  nearer  to  the  purple,  till,  when  the 
army  was  fighting  on  the  Tigris,  the  Emperor 
Xumerianus  died,  and  an  officer  named  Aper  offered 
himself  as  his  successor.  Aper  is  the  Latin  for  a 
boar,  and  Diocles,  perceiving  the  scope  of  the 
prophecy,  thrust  his  sword  into  his  rival's  breast. 
and  was  hailed  Emperor  by  the  legions.  He 
lengthened  his  name  out  to  Diocletianus,  to  sound 
more  imperial,  and  began  a  dominion  unlike  that  of 

any  who  had  gone  before.     They  had   only  been, 
337   - 


338  Young  Folks'  History  of  Home. 

as  it  were,  overgrown  generals,  chosen  by  the  Prae- 
torians or  some  part  of  the  army,  and  at  the  same 
time  taking  the  tribuneship  and  other  offices  for 
life.  Diocletian,  though  called  Emperor,  reigned 
like  the  kings  of  the  East.  He  broke  the  strength 
of  the  Praetorians,  so  that  they  could  never  again 
kill  one  Emperor  and  elect 
another  as  before ;  and  he 
never  would  visit  Rome  lest  he 
should  be  obliged  to  acknowl- 
edge the  authority  of  the  Sen- 
ate, whose  power  he  contrived 
so  entirely  to  take  away,  that 
thenceforward  Senator  be- 
came only  a  complimentary 
title,  of  which  people  in  the 
subdued  countries  were  very 
proud. 

He  divided  the  empire  into  two  parts,  feeling 
that  it  was  beyond  the  management  of  any  one 
man,  and  chose  an  able  soldier  of  low  birth  but 
much  courage,  named  Maximian,  to  rule  the  West 
from  Trier  as  his  capital,  while  he  himself  ruled 
the  East  from  Nicomedia.  Each  of  the  two  Em- 
perors chose  a  future  successor,  who  was  to  rule  in 
part  of  his  dominions  under  the  title  of  Caesar,  and 


DIOCLETIAN. 


The  Division  of  the  Empire.  339 

to  reign  after  him.  Diocletian  chose  his  son-in- 
law  Galerius,  and  sent  him  to  fight  on  the  Danube  ; 
and  Maximian  chose,  as  Csesar,  Constantius  Chlorus, 
who  commanded  in  Britain,  Gaul,  and  Spain  ;  and 
thus  everything  was  done  to  secure  that  a  strong 
hand  should  be  ready  everywhere  to  keep  the 
legions  from  setting  up  Emperors  at  their  own  will. 
Diocletian  was  esteemed  the  most  just  and  kind 
of  the  Emperors ;  Maximian,  the  fiercest  and  most 
savage.  He  had  a  bitter  hatred  of  the  Christian 
name,  which  was  shared  by  Galerius  ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  wife  of  Diocletian  was  believed  to 
be  a  Christian,  and  Helena,  the  wife  of  Constantius, 
was  certainly  one.  However,  Maximian  and  Gale- 
rius were  determined  to  put  down  the  faith.  Max- 
imian is  said  to  have  had  a  whole  legion  of  Chris- 
tians in  his  army,  called  the  Theban,  from  the 
Egyptian  Thebes.  These  he  commanded  to  sacri- 
fice, and  on  their  refusal  had  them  decimated  — 
that  is,  every  tenth  man  was  slain.  They  were 
called  on  again  to  sacrifice,  but  still  were  staunch., 
and  after  a  last  summons  were,  every  man  of  them, 
slain  as  they  stood  with  their  tribune  Maurice, 
whose  name  is  still  held  in  high  honor  in  the  Enga- 
dine.  Dioclesian  was  slow  to  become  a  persecutor, 
until  a  fire  broke  out  in  his  palace  at  Nicomedia, 


340  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

which  did  much  mischief  in  the  city,  but  spared  the 
chief  Christian  church.  The  enemies  of  the  Chris- 
tians accused  them  of  having  caused  it,  and  Dio- 
clesian  required  every  one  in  his  household  to  clear 
themselves  by  offering  sacrifice  to  Jupiter.  His 
wife  and  daughter  yielded,  but  most  of  his  officers 
and  slaves  held  out,  and  died  in  cruel  torments. 
One  slave  was  scourged  till  the  flesh  parted  from 
his  bones,  and  then  the  wounds  were  rubbed  with 
salt  and  vinegar ;  others  were  racked  till  their 
bones  were  out  of  joint,  and  others  hung  up  by 
their  hands  to  hooks,  with  weights  fastened  to  their 
feet.  A  city  in  Phrygia  was  surrounded  by  sol- 
diers and  every  person  in  it  slaughtered ;  and  the 
Christians  were  hunted  down  like  wild  beasts  from 
one  end  of  the  empire  to  the  other,  everywhere 
save  in  Britain,  where,  under  Constantius,  only  one 
martyrdom  is  reported  to  have  taken  place,  namely, 
that  of  the  soldier  at  Verulam,  St.  Alban.  It  was 
the  worst  of  all  the  persecutions,  and  lasted  the 
longest. 

The  two  Emperors  were  good  soldiers,  and  kept 
the  enemies  back,  so  that  Diocletian  celebrated  a 
triumph  at  Mcomedia  ;  but  he  had  an  illness  just 
after,  and,  as  he  was  fifty-nine  years  old,  he  decided 
that  it  would  be  better  to  resign  the  empire  while 


The  Division  of  the  Empire. 


341 


he  was  still  in  his  full  strength,  and  he  persuaded 
Maximian  to  do  the  same,  in  305,  making  Constan- 
tius  and  Galerius  Emperors  in  their  stead.  Con- 
stantius  stopped  the  persecution  in  the  West,  but 


DIOCLETIAN    IN    KETIKEBIENT. 


it  raged  as  much  as  ever  in  the  East  under  Galerius 
and  the  Csesar  he  had  appointed,  whose  name  was 
Daza,  but  who  called  himself  Maximin.  Constan- 
tius  fought  bravely,  both  in  Britain  and  Gaul,  with 
the  enemies  who  tried  to  break  into  the  empire. 


342  Young  Folks  History  of  Rome. 

The  Franks,  one  of  the  Teuton  nations,  were  con- 
stantly breaking  in  on  the  eastern  frontier  of  Gaul, 
and  the  Caledonians  on  the  northern  border  of  the 
settlement  of  Britain.  He  opposed  them  gallantly, 
and  was  much' loved,  but  he  died  at  York,  305, 
and  Galerius  passed  over  his  son  Constantine,  and 
appointed  a  favorite  of  his  own  named  Licinius. 
Constantine  was  so  much  beloved  by  the  army  and 
people  of  Gaul  that  they  proclaimed  him  Emperor, 
and  he  held  the  province  of  Britain  and  Gaul  se- 
curely against  all  enemies. 

Old  Maximian,  who  had  only  retired  on  the 
command  of  Diocletian,  now  came  out  from  his 
retreat,  and  called  on  his  colleague  to  do  the  same ; 
but  Diocletian  was  far  too  happy  on  his  little  farm 
at  Salona  to  leave  it,  and  answered  the  messenger 
who  urged  him  again  to  take  upon  him  the  purple 
with  —  "  Come  and  look  at  the  cabbages  I  have 
planted."  However,  Maximian  was  accepted  as 
the  true  Emperor  by  the  Senate,  and  made  his  son 
Maxentius,  Csesar,  while  he  allied  himself  with 
Constantine,  to  whom  he  gave  his  daughter  Fausta 
in  marriage.  Maxentius  turned  out  a  rebel,  and 
drove  the  old  man  away  to  Marseilles,  where  Con- 
stantine gave  him  a  home  on  condition  of  his  not 
interfering  with   government ;    but   he  could   not 


The  Division  of  the  Umpire. 


343 


rest,  and  raised  the  troops  in  the  south  against  his 
son-in-law.  Constantine's  army  marched  eagerly 
against  him  and  made  him  prisoner,  but  even  then 
he  was  pardoned  ;  yet  he  still  plotted,  and  tried  to 


CONSTAJNTINE   THE   GKEAT. 


persuade  his  daughter  Fausta  to  murder  her  hus- 
band. Upon  this  Constantine  was  obliged  to  have 
him  put  to  death. 

Galerius  died  soon  after  of  a  horrible  disease, 
during  which  he  was  filled  with  remorse  for  his 
cruelties   to    the    Christians,  sent  to  entreat   their 


344  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

prayers,  and  stopped  the  persecution.  On  his  death, 
Licinius  seized  part  of  his  dominions,  and  there 
were  four  men  calling  themselves  Emperors  — 
Licinius  in  Asia,  Daza  Maximin  in  Egypt,  Maxen- 
tius  at  Rome,  and  Constantine  in  Gaul. 

There  was  sure  soon  to  be  a  terrible  struggle.  It 
began  between  Maxentius  and  Constantine.  This 
last  marched  out  of  Gaul  and  entered  Italy.  He 
had  hitherto  seemed  doubtful  between  Christianity 
and  paganism,  but  a  wonder  was  seen  in  the  heav- 
ens before  his  whole  army,  namely,  a  bright  cross 
of  light  in  the  noon-tide  sky  with  the  words  plainly 
to  be  traced  round  it,  In  hoc  signo  vinces  —  "  In 
this  sign  thou  shalt  conquer."  This  sight  decided 
his  mind  ;  he  proclaimed  himself  a  Christian,  and 
from  Milan  issued  forth  an  edict  promising  the 
Christians  his  favor  and  protection.  Great  vic- 
tories were  gained  by  him  at  Turin,  Verona,  and 
on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  where,  at  the  battle  of 
the  Milvian  Bridge  in  312,  Maxentius  was  defeated, 
and  was  drowned  in  crossing  the  river.  Constan- 
tine entered  Rome,  and  was  owned  by  the  Senate 
as  Emperor  of  the  West. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

CONSTANTESTE   THE   GEEAT. 
312—337. 

CONSTANTINE  entered  Rome  as  a  Christian, 
and  from  his  time  forward  Christianity  pre- 
vailed. He  reigned  only  over  the  West  at  first, 
but  Licinius  overthrew  Daza,  treating  him  and  his 
family  with  great  barbarity,  and  then  Constantine, 
becoming  alarmed  at  his  power,  marched  against 
him,  beat  him  in  Thrace,  and  ten  years  later  made 
another  attack  on  him.  In  the  battle  of  Adrian- 
ople,  Licinius  was  defeated,  and  soon  after  made 
prisoner  and  put  to  death.  Thus,  in  323,  Constan- 
tine became  the  only  Emperor. 

He  was  a  Christian  in  faith,  though  not  as  yet 
baptized.     He  did  not  destroy  heathen  temples  nor 

forbid  heathen  rites,  but  he  did  everything  to  favor 
345 


346  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

the  Christians  and  make  Christian  laws.  Churches 
were  rebuilt  and  ornamented  ;  Sunday  was  kept  as 
the  day  of  the  Lord,  and  on  it  no  business  might 
be  transacted  except  the  setting  free  of  a  slave ; 
soldiers  might  go  to  church,  and  all  that  had  made 
it  difficult  and  dangerous  to  confess  the  faith  was 
taken  away.  Constantine  longed  to  see  his  whole 
empire  Christian  ;  but  at  Rome,  heathen  ceremonies 
were  so  bound  up  with  every  action  of  the  state  or 
of  a  man's  life  that  it  was  very  hard  for  the  Em- 
peror to  avoid  them,  and  he  therefere  spent  as  little 
time  as  he  could  there,  but  was  generally  at  the 
newer  cities  of  Aries  and  Trier  ;  and  at  last  he  de- 
cided on  founding  a  fresh  capital,  to  be  a  Christian 
city  from  the  first. 

The  place  he  chose  was  the  shore  of  the  Bos- 
phorus,  where  Asia  and  Europe  are  only  divided 
by  that  narrow  channel,  and  where  the  old  Greek 
city  of  Byzantium  already  stood.  From  hence  he 
hoped  to  be  able  to  rule  the  East  and  the  West. 
He  enlarged  the  city  with  splendid  buildings,  made 
a  palace  there  for  himself,  and  called  it  after  his 
own  name  —  Constantinople,  or  New  Rome,  neither 
of  which  names  has  it  ever  lost.  He  carried  many 
of  the  ornaments  of  Old  Rome  thither,  but  conse- 
crated them  as  far  as  possible,  and  he  surrounded 


Constantine  the   Great. 


347 


himself  with  Bishops  and  clergy.  His  mother 
Helena  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  to  visit 
the  spots  where  our  blessed  Lord  lived  and  died, 
and  to  clear  them  from  profanation.  The  churches 
she  built  over  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  the  Cave  of 
the  nativity  at  Bethlehem  have  been  kept  up  even 
to  this  day. 

There  was  now  no  danger  in  being  a  Christian, 


CONSTAN  1 1NOPLE. 


and  thus  worldly  and  even  wicked  men  and  women 
owned  themselves  as  belonging  to  the  Church.  So 
much  evil  prevailed  that  many  good  men  fled  from 
the  sight  of  it,  thinking  to  do  more  good  by  pray- 


348  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

ing  in  lonely  places  free  from  temptation  than  by 
living  in  the  midst  of  it.  These  were  called  her- 
mits, and  the  first  and  mcst  noted  of  them  was  St. 
Anthony.  The  Thebaid,  or  hilly  country  above 
Thebes  in  Egypt,  was  full  of  these  hermits.  When 
they  banded  together  in  brotherhoods  they  were 
called  monks,  and  the  women  who  did  the  like  were 
called  nuns. 

At  this  time  there  arose  in  Egypt  a  priest  named 
Arius,  who  fell  away  from  the  true  faith  respecting 
our  blessed  Lord,  and  taught  that  he  was  not  from 
the  beginning,  and  was  not  equal  with  God  the 
Father.  The  Patriarch  of  Alexandria  tried  to 
silence  him,  but  he  led  away  an  immense  number 
of  followers,  who  did  not  like  to  stretch  their  souls 
to  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God.  At  last  Con- 
stantine  resolved  to  call  together  a  council  of  the 
Bishops  and  the  wisest  priests  of  the  whole  Church, 
to  declare  what  was  the  truth  that  had  been  always 
held  from  the  beginning.  The  place  he  appointed 
for  the  meeting  was  Nicea,  in  Asia  Minor,  and  he 
paid  for  the  journeys  of  all  the  Bishops,  three  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  in  number,  who  came  from  all 
parts  of  the  empire,  east  and  west,  so  as  to  form 
the  first  QEcumenical  or  General  Council  of  the 
Church.     Many  of  them  still  bore  the  marks  of  the 


Constantine  the  Great.  351 

persecutions  they  had  borne  in  Diocletian's  time : 
some  had  been  blinded,  or  had  their  ears  cut  off; 
some  had  marks  worn  on  their  arms  by  chains,  or 
were  bowed  by  hard  labor  in  the  mines.  The  Em- 
peror, in  purple  and  gold,  took  a  seat  in  the  coun- 
cil as  the  prince,  but  only  as  a  layman  and  not  yet 
baptized  ;  and  the  person  who  used  the  most  power- 
ful arguments  was  a  young  deacon  of  Alexandria 
named  Athauasius.  Almost  every  Bishop  declared 
that  the  doctrine  of  Arius  was  contrary  to  what  the 
Church  had  held  from  the  first,  and  the  confession  of 
faith  was  drawn  up  which  we  call  the  Xicene  Creed. 
Three  hundred  Bishops  at  once  set  their  seals  to  it, 
and  of  those  who  at  first  refused  all  but  two  were 
won  over,  and  these  were  banished.  It  was  then 
that  the  faith  of  the  Church  began  to  be  called 
Catholic  or  universal,  and  orthodox  or  straight 
teaching ;  while  those  who  attacked  it  were  called 
heretics,  and  their  doctrine  heresy,  from  a  Greek 
word  meaning  to  choose. 

The  troubles  were  not  at  an  end  with  the  Coun- 
cil and  Creed  of  Nicea.  Arius  had  pretended  to 
submit,  but  he  went  on  with  his  false  teaching,  and 
the  courtly  Bishop  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia,  who 
had  the  ear  of  the  Emperor,  protected  him.  Atha- 
uasius had  been  made  Patriarch,  or  Father-Bishop, 


352 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


of  Alexandria,  and  with  all  his  might  argued 
against  the  false  doctrine,  and  cut  off  those  who  fol- 
lowed it  from  the  Church.  But  Ensebius  so  talked 
that  Constantine  fancied  quiet  was  better  than 
truth,  and  sent  orders  to  Athanasius  that  no  one  was 


CATACOMBS. 


to  be  shut  out.  This  the  Patriarch  could  not  obey, 
and  the  Emperor  therefore  banished  him  to  Gaul. 
Arius  then  went  to  Constantinople  to  ask  the  Em- 
peror to  insist  on  his  being  received  back  to  com- 
munion. He  declared  that  he  believed  that  which 
he  held  in   his  hand,  showing  the  Creed  of  Nicea, 


Constantine  the  Great.  353 

but  keeping  hidden  under  it  a  statement  of  his  own 
heresy. 

"Go,"  said  Constantine;  "if  your  faith  agree 
with  your  oath,  you  are  blameless  ;  if  not,  God  be 
your  judge  ;  "  and  he  commanded  that  Arius  should 
be  received  to  communion  the  next  day,  which  was 
Sunday.  But  on  his  way  to  church,  among  a  great 
number  of  his  friends,  Arius  was  struck  with  sud- 
den illness,  and  died  in  a  few  minutes.  The  Em- 
peror, as  well  as  the  Catholics,  took  this  as  a  clear 
token  of  the  hand  of  God,  and  Constantine  was 
cured  of  any  leaning  to  the  Arians,  though  he  still 
believed  the  men  who  called  Athanasius  factious 
and  troublesome,  and  therefore  would  not  recall 
him  from  exile. 

The  great  grief  of  Constantine's  life  was,  that 
he  put  his  eldest  son  Crispus  to  death  on  a  wicked 
accusation  of  his  stepmother  Fausta.  On  learning 
the  truth,  he  caused  a  silver  statue  to  be  raised, 
bearing  the  inscription,  "  My  son,  whom  I  unjustly 
condemned ; "  and  when  other  crimes  of  Fausta 
came  to  light,  he  caused  her  to  be  suffocated. 

Baptism  was  often  in  those  days  put  off  to  the 
end  of  life,  that  there  might  be  no  more  sin  after  it, 
and  Constantine  was  not  baptized  till  his  last  illness 
had  begun,  when  he  was  sixty-four  yea.rs  old,  and 


354 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


he  sent  for  Sylvester,  Pope  or  Bishop  of  Rome, 
where  he  then  was,  and  received  from  him  baptism, 
absolution,  and  Holy  Communion.  After  this, 
Constantine  never  put  on  purple  robes  again,  but 
wore  white  till  the  day  of  his  death  in  337. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

CONSTAKTIUS. 
337—364. 

CONSTANTINE  THE  GREAT  left  three 
sons,  who  shared  the  empire  between  them  ; 
but  two  were  slain  early  in  life,  and  only  Constan- 
tius,  the  second  and  worst  of  the  brothers,  remained 
Emperor.  He  was  an  Arian,  and  under  him  Atha- 
nasius,  who  had  returned  to  Alexandria,  was  ban- 
ished again,  and  took  refuge  with  the  Pope  Libe- 
rius  at  Rome.  Pope  — ■  papa  in  Latin  —  is  the  name 
for  father,  just  as  patriarch  is ;  and  the  Pope  had 
become  more  important  since  the  removal  of  the 
court  from  Rome ;  but  Constantius  tried  to  over- 
come Liberius,  banished  him  to  Thrace,  and  placed 
an  Arian  named  Felix  in  his  room.  The  whole 
people  of  Rome  rose  in  indignation,  and  Constan 
355 


356  Young  Folks'1  History  of  Rome. 

tius  tried  to  appease  them  by  declaring  that  Liberius 
and  Felix  should  rule  the  Church  together ;  but 
the  Romans  would  not  submit  to  such  a  decree. 
"  Shall  we  have  the  circus  factions  in  the  Church?  " 
they  said.  "No  !  one  God,  one  Christ,  one  Bishop  !  " 
In  the  end  Felix  was  forced  to  fly,  and  Liberius 
kept  his  seat.  Athanasius  found  his  safest  refuge 
in  the  deserts  among  the  hermits  of  the  Thebaid 
in  Egypt. 

Meantime  Sapor,  king  of  Persia,  was  attacking 
Nisibis,  the  most  Eastern  city  of  the  Roman  empire, 
where  a  brave  Catholic  named  James  was  Bishop, 
and  encouraged  the  people  to  a  most  brave  resist- 
ance, so  that  they  held  out  for  four  months ;  and 
Sapor,  thinking  the  city  was  under  some  divine 
protection,  and  finding  that  his  army  sickened  in 
the  hot  marshes  around  it,  gave  up  the  siege  at 
last. 

Constantius  was  a  little,  mean-looking  man,  but 
he  dressed  himself  up  to  do  his  part  as  Emperor. 
He  had  swarms  of  attendants  like  any  Eastern 
prince,  most  of  them  slaves,  who  waited  on  him  as 
if  he  was  perfectly  helpless.  He  had  his  face 
painted,  and  was  covered  with  gold  embroidery 
and  jewels  on  all  state,  occasions,  and  he  used  to 
stand  like  a  statue  to  be  looked  at,  never  winking 


Constantius.  357 

an  eyelid,  nor  moving  his  hand,  nor  doing  anything 
to  remind  people  that  he  was  a  man  like  them- 
selves. He  was  timid  and  jealous,  and  above  all 
others,  he  dreaded  his  young  cousin  Julian,  the 
only  relation  he  had.  Julian  had  studied  at  Athens, 
and  what  he  there   heard  and  fancied  of  the  old 


Greek  philosophy  seemed  to  him  far  grander  than 
the  Christianity  that  showed  itself  in  the  lives  of 
Constantius  and  his  courtiers.  He  was  full  of 
spirit  and  abilit}",  and  Constantius  thought  it  best 
to  keep  him  at  a  distance  by  sending  him  to  fight 
the  Germans  on  the  borders  of  Gaul.  There  he 
was  so  successful,  and  was  such  a  favorite  with  the 


358  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

soldiers,  that  Constantius  sent  to  recall  him.  This 
only  made  the  army  proclaim  him  Emperor,  and  he 
set  out  with  tliem  across  the  Danubian  country 
towards  Constantinople,  but  on  the  way  met  the  tid- 
ings that  Constantius  was  dead. 

This  was  in  361,  and  without  going  to  Rome 
Julian  hastened  on  to  Constantinople,  where  he  was 
received  as  Emperor.  He  no  longer  pretended  to 
be  a  Christian,  but  had  all  the  old  heathen  temples 
opened  again,  and  the  sacrifices  performed  as  in 
old  times,  though  it  was  not  easy  to  find  any  one 
who  recollected  how  they  were  carried  on.  He 
said  that  all  forms  of  religion  should  be  free  to 
every  one,  but  he  himself  tried  to  live  like  an  an- 
cient philosopher,  getting  rid  of  all  the  pomp  of 
jewels,  robes,  courtiers,  and  slaves  who  had  at- 
tended Constantius,  wearing  simply  the  old  purple 
garb  of  a  Roman  general,  sleeping  on  a  lion's  skin, 
and  living  on  the  plainest  food.  Meantime,  he 
tried  to  put  down  the  Christian  faith  by  laughing 
at  it,  and  trying  to  get  people  to  despise  it  as  some- 
thing low  and  mean.  When  this  did  not  succeed, 
he  forbade  Christians  to  be  schoolmasters  or  teachers; 
and  as  they  declared  that  the  ruin  of  the  Temple 
of  Jerusalem  proved  our  Lord  to  have  been  a  true 
Prophet,  he  commanded  that  it  should  be  rebuilt. 


Constantius.  359 

As  soon  as  the  foundations  were  dug,  there  was  an 
outburst  of  fiery  smoke  and  balls  of  flame  which 
forced  the  workmen  to  leave  off.  Such  things 
sometimes  happen  when  long-buried  ruins  are 
opened,  from  the  gases  that  have  formed  there  ; 
but  it  was  no  doubt  the  work  of  God's  providence, 
and  the  Christians  held  it  as  a  miracle. 

Julian  hated  the  Catholic  Christians  worse  than 
the  Arians,  because  he  found  them  more  staunch 
against  him.  Athanasius  had  come  back  to  Alex- 
andria, but  the  Arians  got  up  an  accusation  against 
him  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  a  murder,  and 
brought  forward  a  hand  in  a  box  to  prove  the 
crime  ;  and  though  Athanasius  showed  the  man 
said  to  have  been  murdered  alive,  and  with  both 
his  hands  in  their  places,  he  was  still  hunted  out 
of  Alexandria,  and  had  to  hide  among  the  hermits 
of  the  Thebaid  again.  When  any  search  was 
threatened  of  the  spot  where  he  was,  the  horn  was 
sounded  which  called  the  hermits  together  to 
church,  and  he  was  taken  to  another  hiding-place. 
Sometimes  he  visited  his  flock  at  Alexandria  in 
secret,  and  once,  when  he  was  returning  down  the 
Nile,  he  learned  that  a  boat-load  of  soldiers  was 
pursuing  him.  Turning  back;  his  boat  met  them. 
They  called  out  to  know  if  Athanasius  had  beeD 


360  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

seen.  "  He  was  going  down  the  Nile  a  little  while 
ago,"  the  Bishop  answered.  His  enemies  hurried 
on,  and  he  was  safe. 

Julian  was  angered  by  finding  it  impossible  to 
waken  paganism.  At  one  grand  temple  in  Asia, 
whither  hundreds  of  oxen  used  to  be  brought  to 
sacrifice,  ail  his  encouragement  only  caused  one 
goose  to  be  offered,  which  the  priest  of  the  temple 
received  as  a  grand  gift.  Julian  expected,  too, 
that  pagans  would  worship  their  old  gods  and  yet 
live  the  virtuous  lives  of  Christians;  and  he  was 
disappointed  and  grieved  to  find  that  no  works  of 
goodness  or  mercy  sprang  from  those  who  followed 
his  belief.  He  was  a  kind  man  by  nature,  but  he 
began  to  grow  bitter  with  disappointment,  and  to 
threaten  when  he  found  it  was  of  no  use  to  per- 
suade ;  and  the  Christians  expected  that  there  would 
be  a  great  persecution  when  he  should  return  from 
an  expedition  into  the  East  against  the  king  of 
Persia. 

He  went  with  a  fine  army  in  ships  down  the 
Euphrates,  and  thence  marched  into  Persia,  where 
King  Sapor  was  wise  enough  to  avoid  a  battle,  and 
only  retreat  before  him.  The  Romans  were  half 
starved,  and  obliged  to  turn  back.  Then  Sapor 
attacked  their  rear,  and  cut   off  their  stragglers, 


Constantius.  363 

Julian  shared  all  the  sufferings  of  his  troops,  and 
was  always  wherever  there  was  danger.  At  last  a 
javelin  pierced  him  under  the  arm.  It  is  said  that 
he  caught  some  of  his  blood  in  his  other  hand,  cast  it 
up  towards  heaven,  and  cried,  "  Galilean,  Thou  hast 
conquered."  He  died  in  a  few  hours,  in  363,  and 
the  Romans  could  only  choose  the  best  leader  they 
knew  to  get  them  out  of  the  sad  plight  they  were 
in  —  almost  that  of  the  ten  thousand  Greeks,  ex- 
cept that  they  knew  the  roads  and  had  friendly 
lands  much  nearer.  Their  choice  fell  on  a  plain, 
honest  Christian  soldier  named  Jovian,  who  did  his 
best  by  making  a  treaty  with  Sapor,  giving  up  all 
claim  to  any  lands  beyond  the  Tigris,  and  surren- 
dering the  brave  city  of  Nisibis  which  had  held  out 
so  gallantly  —  a  great  grief  to  the  Eastern  Chris- 
tians. The  first  thing  Jovian  did  was  to  have 
Athanasius  recalled,  but  his  reign  did  not  last  a 
year,  and  he  died  on  the  way  to  Constantinople. 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

VALENTINIAN  AND  HIS  FAMILY. 
364—392. 

WHEN  Jovian  died,  the  army  chose  another 
soldier  named  Valentinian,  a  stout,  brave, 
rough  man,  with  little  education,  rude  and  pas- 
sionate, but  a  Catholic  Christian.  As  soon  as  he 
reached  Constantinople,  he  divided  the  empire  with 
his  brother  Valens,  whom  he  left  to  rule  the  East, 
while  he  himself  went  to  govern  the  West,  chiefly 
from  Milan,  for  the  Emperors  were  not  fond  of 
living  at  Rome,  partly  because  the  remains  of  the 
Senate  interfered  with  their  full  grandeur,  and 
partly  because  there  were  old  customs  that  were 
inconvenient  to  a  Christian  Emperor.  He  was  in 
general  just  and  honest  in  his  dealings,  but  when 
he  was  angry  he  could  be  cruel,  and  it  is  said  he 
364 


Valentinian  and  his  Family. 


365 


had  two  bears  to  whom  criminals  were  thrown. 
His  brother  Valens  was  a  weaker  and  less  able 
man,  and  was  an  Arian,  who  banished  Athanasius 
once  more  for  the  fifth  time ;  but  the  Church 
of  Alexandria  prevailed,  and  he  was  allowed  to  re- 
main and  die  in  peace.     The  Creed  that  bears  his 


ALEXANDRIA. 


name  is  not  thought  to  be  of  his  writing,  but  to 
convey  what  he  taught.  There  was  great  talk  at 
this  time  all  over  the  cities  about  the  questions  be- 
tween the  Cr  tholics   and   Arians.  and   good  men 


366  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

were  shocked  by  hearing  the  holiest  mysteries  of 
the  faith  gossiped  about  by  the  idlers  in  baths  and 
market-places. 

At  this  time  Damasus,  the  Pope,  desired  a  very 
learned  deacon  of  his  church,  named  Jerome,  to 
make  a  good  translation  of  the  whole  of  the  Scrip- 
tures into  Latin,  comparing  the  best  versions,  and 
giving  an  account  of  the  books.  For  this  purpose 
Jerome  went  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  lived  in  a  cell 
at  Bethlehem,  happy  to  be  out  of  the  way  of  the 
quarrels  at  Rome  and  Constantinople.  There,  too, 
was  made  the, first  translation  of  the  Gospels  into 
one  of  the  Teutonic  languages,  namely,  the  Gothic. 
The  Goths  were  a  groat  people,  of  the  same  Teu- 
tonic race  as  the  Germans,  Franks,  and  Saxons  — 
tall,  fair,  brave,  strong,  and  handsome  —  and  were 
at  this  time  living  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Dan- 
ube. Many  of  their  young  men  hired  themselves 
to  fight  as  soldiers  in  the  Roman  army ;  and  they 
were  learning  Christianity,  but  only  as  Arians.  It 
was  for  them  that  their  Bishop  Ulfilas  translated 
the  Gospels  into  Gothic,  and  invented  an  alphabet 
to  write  them  in.  A  copy  of  this  translation  is 
still  to  be  seen  at  Upsal  in  Sweden,  written  on  pur- 
ple vellum  in  silver  letters. 

Another  great  and  holy  man  of  this  time  was 


Valentinian  and  his  Family.  369 

Ambrose,  the  Archbishop  of  Milan,  who  was  the 
guide  and  teacher  of  Gratian,  Valentinian's  eldest 
son,  a  good  and  promising  youth  so  far  as  he  went, 
but  who,  after  the  habit  of  the  time,  was  waiting  to 
be  baptized  till  he  should  be  further  on  in  life, 
Valentinian's  second  wife  was  named  Justina  ;  and 
when  he  died,  as  it  is  said,  from  breaking  a  blood 
vessel  in  a  fit  of  rage,  in  375,  the  Western  Empire 
was  shared  between  her  little  son  Valentinian  and 
Gratian. 

Justina  was  an  Arian,  and  wanted  to  have  a 
church  in  Milan  where  she  could  worship  without 
ascribing  full  honor  and  glory  to  God  the  Son  ;  but 
Ambrose  felt  that  the  churches  were  his  Master's, 
not  his  own  to  be  given  away,  and  filled  the  Church 
with  Christians,  who  watched  there  chanting 
Psalms  day  and  night,  while  the  soldiers  Justina 
sent  to  turn  them  out  joined  them,  and  sang  and 
prayed  with  them. 

Gratian  did  not  choose  to  be  called  Pontifex 
Maximus,  or  chief  priest  of  all  the  Roman  idols,  as 
all  the  Emperors  had  been ;  and  this  offended 
many  persons.  A  general  named  Maximus  rose 
and  reigned  as  Emperor  in  Britain,  and  Gratian 
had  too  much  on  his  hands  in  the  north  to  put  him 
down. 


370  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome, 

In  the  meantime,  a  terrible  wild  tribe  called 
Huns  were  coming  from  the  West  and  driving  the 
Goths  before  them,  so  that  they  asked  leave  from 
Valens  to  come  across  the  Danube  and  settle  them- 
selves in  Thrace.  The  reply  was  so  ill  managed  by 
Valens5  counsellors  that  the  Goths  were  offended, 
and  came  over  the  river  as  foes  when  they  might 
have  come  as  friends;  and  Valens  was  killed  in 
battle  with  them  at  Adrianople  in  378. 

Gratian  felt  that  he  alone  could  not  cope  with 
the  dangers  that  beset  the  empire,  and  his  brother 
was  still  a  child,  so  he  gave  the  Eastern  Empire  to 
a  brave  and  noble  Spanish  general  named  Theodo- 
sius,  who  was  a  Catholic  Christian  and  baptized, 
and  who  made  peace  with  the  Goths,  gave  them 
settlements,  and  took  their  young  men  into  his 
armies.  In  the  meantime,  Maximus  was  growing 
more  powerful  in  Britain,  and  Gratian,  who  chiefly 
lived  in  Gaul,  was  disliked  by  the  soldiers  especially 
for  making  friends  with  the  young  Gothic  chief 
Alaric,  whom  he  joined  in  hunting  in  the  forests  of 
Gaul  in  a  way  they  thought  unworthy  of  an  Em- 
perov.  Finding:  that  he  was  thus  disliked,  Maximus 
crossed  the  Channel  to  attack  him.  His  soldiers 
would  not  march  against  the  British  legions,  and 
he  was  taken  and  put  to  death,  bitterly  lamenting 


Valentinian  and  his  Family.  371 

that  he  had  so  long  deferred  his  baptism  till  now  it 
was  denied  to  him. 

Young  Valentinian  went  on  reigning  at  Milan, 
and  Maximus  in  Gaul.  This  last  had  become  a 
Christian  and  a  Catholic  in  name,  but  without  lay- 
ing aside  his  fierceness  and  cruelty,  so  that,  when 
some  heretics  were  brought  before  him,  he  had 
them  put  to  death,  entirely  against  the  advice  of 
the  great  Saint  and  Bishop  then  working  in  Gaul, 
Martin  of  Tours,  and  likewise  of  St.  Ambrose,  who 
had  been  sent  by  Valentinian  to  make  peace  with 
the  Gallic  tyrant. 

It  was  a  time  of  great  men  in  the  Church.  In 
Africa  a  very  great  man  had  risen  up,  St,  Augus- 
tine, who,  after  doubting  long  and  living  a  life  of 
sin,  was  drawn  to  the  truth  by  the  prayers  of  his 
good  mother  Monica,  and,  when  studying  in  Italy, 
listened  to  St.  Ambrose,  and  became  a  hearty  be- 
liever and  maintainer  of  all  that  was  gcod.  He 
became  Bishop  of  Hippo  in  Africa. 

But  with  the  good  there  was  much  of  evil.  All 
the  old  cities,  and  especially  Rome,  were  full  of  a 
strange  mixture  of  Christian  show  and  heathen 
vice.  There  was  such  idleness  and  luxury  in  the 
towns  that  hardly  any  Romans  had  hardihood 
enough  to  go  out  to  fight  their  own  battles,  but 


372  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

hired  Goths,  Germans,  Ganls,  and  Moors ;  and 
these  learned  their  ways  of  warfare,  and  used  them 
in  their  turn  against  the  Romans  themselves. 
Nothing  was  so  much  run  after  as  the  games  in  the 
amphitheatres.     People  rushed  there  to  watch  the 


CONVENT    ON    T1IK    HILLS. 


chariot  races,  and  went  perfectly  wild  with  eager- 
ness about  the  drivers  whose  colors  they  wore  ;  and 
even  the  gladiator  games  were  not  done  away 
with  by  Christianity,  although  these  sports  were 
continually  preached  against  by  the  clerg}^,  and  no 
really  devout  person  would  go   to   the   theatres. 


Valentinian  and  his  Family-.  373 

Much  time  was  idled  away  at  the  baths,  which 
were  the  place  for  talk  and  gossip,  and  where  there 
was  a  soft  steamy  air  which  was  enough  to  take 
away  all  manhood  and  resolution.  The  ladies' 
dresses  were  exceedingly  expensive  and  absurd, 
and  the  whole  way  of  living  quite  as  sumptuous 
and  helpless  as  in  the  times  of  heathenism.  Good 
people  tried  to  live  apart.  More  than  ever  became 
monks  and  hermits ;  and  a  number  of  ladies,  who 
had  been  much  struck  with  St.  Jerome's  teaching, 
made  up  a  sort  of  society  at  Rome  which  busied  it- 
self in  good  works  and  devotion.  Two  of  the 
ladies,  a  mother  and  daughter,  followed  Mm  to  the 
Holy  Land,  and  dwelt  in  a  convent  at  Bethlehem. 
Maximus  after  a  time  advanced  into  Italy,  and 
Valentinian  fled  to  ask  the  help  of  Theodosius,  who 
came  with  an  army,  defeated  and  slew  Maximus, 
and  restored  Valentinian,  but  only  for  a  short 
time,  for  the  poor  youth  was  soon  murdered  by  a 
Frank  chief  iu  his  own  service  named  Arhogastes. 


CHAPTER    XL. 

THEODOSIUS   THE   GREAT. 

392—395. 

r  I  ^HE  Frank,  Arbogastes,  who  had  killed  Valen- 

■*-      tinian  did  not  make   himself  Emperor,  but 

set  up  a  heathen  philosopher  called  Eugenius,  who 

for  a  little  while  restored  all  the  heathen  pomp  and 

splendor,  and  opened  the  temples  again,  threatening 

even  to  take  away  the  churches  and  turn  the  chief 

one  at  Milan  into  a  stable.     They  knew  that  Theo- 

dosius  would  soon  come  to  attack  them,  so  they 

prepared  for  a  great  resistance  in  the  passes  of  the 

Julian  Alps,  and   the   :mage   of  the   Thundering 

Jupiter  was  placed  to  guard  them. 

Theodosius  had  collected  his  troops  and  marched 

under  the  Labarum  —  that  iv  to  say,  the  Cross  of 

Constantine,  which  had  be?.n  the  ensign  of  the  im^ 
374 


Theodosius  the   Great. 


bf5 


perial  army  ever  since  the  battle  of  the  Milvian 
Bridge  It  was  the  cross  combined  with  the  two 
first  Greek  letters  of  the  name  Christ,  \  and 
was  carried,  as  the  eagles  had  been,  above  a  purple 


silk  banner.  The  men  of  Eugenius  bore  before  them 
a  figure  of  Hercules,  and  in  the  first  battle  they 
gained  the  advantage,  for  the  more  ignorant  East- 
ern soldiers,  though  Christians,  could  not  get  rid  oi 


376  Young  Folks1   History   of  Rome. 

the  notion  that  there  was  some  sort  of  power  in  a 
heathen  god,  and  thought  Jupiter  and  Hercules 
were  too  strong  for  them. 

But  Theodosius  rallied  them  and  led  them  back, 
so  that  they  gained  a  great  victory,  and  a  terrible 
storm  and  whirlwind  which  fell  at  the  same  time 
upon  the  host  of  Eugenius  made  the  Christian  army 
feel  the  more  sure  that  God  fought  on  their  side. 
Eugenius  was  taken  and  put  to  death,  and  Arbo- 
gastes  fell  on  his  own  sword. 

Theodosius  thus  united  the  empires  of  the  East 
and  West  once  more.  He  was  a  brave  and  gallant 
soldier,  and  a  good  and  conscientious  man,  and  was 
much  loved  and  honored  ;  but  he  could  be  stern 
and  passionate,  and  he  was  likewise  greatly  feared. 
At  Antioch,  the  people  had  been  much  offended  at  a 
tax  which  Theodosius  had  laid  on  them  ;  they  rose 
in  rebellion,  overthrew  his  statues  and  those  of  his 
family,  and  dragged  them  about  in  the  mud. .  No 
sooner  was  this  done  than  they  began  to  be  shocked 
and  terrified,  especially  because  of  the  insult  to 
the  statue  of  the  Empress,  who  was  lately  dead 
after  a  most  kind  and  charitable  life.  The  citizens 
in  haste  sent  off  messengers,  with  the  Bishop  at 
their  head,  to  declare  their  grief  and  sorrow,  and 
entreat  the  Emperor's  pardon.     All  the  time  they 


ROMAN   HALL    OF    JUSTICE- 


Theodosius  the  Great.  379 

were  gone  the  city  gave  itself  up  to  prayer  and 
fasting,  listening  to  sermons  from  the  priest,  John 
■ —  called  from  his  eloquence  Chrysostom,  or  Golden 
Mouth  —  who  preached  repentance  for  all  the  most 
frequent  sins,  such  as  love  of  pleasure,  irreverence 
at  church,  etc.  The  Bishop  on  his  way  met  the  Em- 
peror's deputies  who  were  charged  to  enquire  into 
the  crime  and  punish  the  people  ;  and  he  redoubled 
his  speed  in  reaching  Constantinople,  where  he  so 
pleaded  the  cause  of  the  people  that  Theodosius 
freely  forgave  them,  and  sent  him  home  to  keep  a 
happy  Easter  with  them.  This  was  while  he  was 
still  Emperor  only  of  the  East. 

But  when  he  was  in  Italy  with  Valentinian,  three 
years  later,  there  was  another  great  sedition  at 
Thessalonica.  The  people  there  were  as  mad  as 
were  most  of  the  citizens  of  the  larger  towns  upon 
the  sports  of  the  amphitheatre,  and  were  vehe- 
mently fond  of  the  charioteers  whom  they  admired 
on  either  side.  Just  before  some  races  that  were 
expected,  one  of  the  favorite  drivers  committed  a 
crime  for  which  he  was  imprisoned.  The  people, 
wild  with  fury,  rose  and  called  for  his  release  ;  and 
when  this  was  denied  to  them,  they  fell  on  the 
magistrates  with  stones,  and  killed  the  chief  of 
them,  Botheric,  the  commander  of  the  forces.    The 


380  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

news  was  taken  to  Milan,  where  the  Emperor  then 
was,  and  his  wrath  was  so  great  and  terrible  that 
he  commanded  that  the  whole  city  should  suffer. 
The  soldiers,  who  were  glad  both  to  revenge  their 
captain  and  to  gain  plunder,  hastened  to  put  his 
command  into  execution ;  the  unhappy  people  were 
collected  in  the  circus,  and  slaughtered  so  rapidly 
and  suddenly,  that  when  Theodosius  began  to  re- 
cover from  his  passion,  and  sent  to  stay  the  hands 
of  the  slayers,  they  found  the  city  burning  and  the 
streets  full  of  corpses. 

St.  Ambrose  felt  it  his  duty  to  speak  forth  in  the 
name  of  the  Church  against  such  fury  and  cruelty ; 
and  when  Theodosius  presented  himself  at  the  church 
door  to  come  to  the  Holy  Communion,  Ambrose 
met  him  there,  and  turned  him  back  as  a  blood- 
stained sinner  unfit  to  partake  of  the  heavenly 
feast,  and  bidding  him  not  add  sacrilege  to  murder. 

Theodosius  pleaded  that  David  had  sinned  even 
more  deeply,  and  yet  had  been  forgiven.  "  If  you 
have  sinned  like  him,  repent  like  him,"  said  Am- 
brose ;  and  the  Emperor  went  back  weeping  to  his 
palace,  there  to  remain  as  a  penitent.  Easter  was 
the  usual  time  for  receiving  penitents  back  to  the 
Church,  but  at  Christmas  the  Emperor  presented 
himself  again,  hoping  to  win  the  Bishop's  consent 


Theodosius  the   Great.  381 

to  his  return  at  once ;  but  Ambrose  was  firm,  and 
again  met  him  at  the  gate,  rebuking  him  for  trying 
to  break  the  rules  of  the  Church. 

"No,"  said  Theodosius;  "I  am  not  come  to 
break  the  laws,  but  to  entreat  you  to  imitate  the 
mercy  of  God  whom  we  serve,  who  opens  the  gates 
of  mercy  to  contrite  sinners." 

On  seeing  how  deep  was  his  repentance,  Ambrose 
allowed  him  to  enter  the  Church,  though  it  was 
not  for  some  time  that  he  was  admitted  to  the  Holy 
Communion,  and  all  that  time  he  fasted  and  never 
put  on  his  imperial  robes.  He  also  made  a  law  that 
no  sentence  of  death  should  be  carried  out  till 
thirty  days  after  it  was  given,  so  as  to  give  time  to 
see  whether  it  were  hasty  or  just. 

During  this  reign  another  heresy  sprang  up, 
denying  the  Godhead  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  and, 
in  consequence,  Theodosius  called  together  another 
Council  of  the  Church,  at  which  was  added  to  the 
Nicene  Creed  those  latter  sentences  winch  follow 
the  words,  "  I  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  In  this 
reign,  too,  began  to  be  sung  the  Te  Deum,  which  is 
generally  known  as  the  hymn  of  St.  Ambrose.  It 
was  first  used  at  Milan,  but  whether  he  wrote  it  or 
not  is  uncertain,  though  there  is  a  story  that  he 
had  it  sung  for  the  first  time  at  the  baptism  of  St. 
Augustiue. 


382 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


Theodosius  only  lived  six  months  after  his  defeat 
of  Eugenius,  dying  at  Milan  in  395,  when  only 
fifty  years  old.  He  was  the  last  who  really  de- 
served the  name  of  a  Roman  Emperor,  though  the 
title  was  kept  up,  and  Rome  had  still  much  to  un- 
dergo. He  left  two  young  sons  named  Arcadius 
and  Honorius,  between  whom  the  empire  wag 
divided. 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

ALARIC      THE      GOTH. 
395—410. 

THE  sons  of  the  great  Theodosius  were,  like 
almost  all  the  children  of  the  Roman  Em- 
perors, vain  and  weak,  spoiled  by  growing  up  as 
princes.  Arcadius,  who  was  eighteen,  had  the 
East,  and  was  under  the  charge  of  a  Roman  officer 
called  Rufinus ;  Honorius  who  was  only  eleven, 
reigned  at  Rome  under  the  care  of  Stilicho,  who 
was  by  birth  a  Vandal,  that  is  to  say,  of  one  of 
those  Teutonic  nations  who  were  living  all  round 
the  northern  bounds  of  the  empire,  and  whose 
sons  came  to  serve  in  the  Roman  armies  and  learn 
Roman  habits.  Stilicho  was  brave  and  faithful, 
and  almost  belonged  to  the  imperial  family,  for  his 

wife   Serena   was   neice   to    Theodosius,   and  his 
383 


384  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

daughter  Maria  was  betrothed  to  the  young  Hono- 
rius. 

Stilicho  was  a  very  active,  spirited  man,  who 
found  troops  to  check  the  enemies  of  Rome  on  all 
sides  of  the  Western  Empire.  Rufmus  was  not  so 
faithful,  and  did  great  harm  in  the  East  by  quar- 
relling with  Arcadius'  other  ministers,  and  then,  as 
all  believed,  inviting  the  Goths  to  come  out  of 
their  settlements  on  the  Danube  and  invade  Greece, 
under  Alaric,  the  same  Gothic  chief  who  had  been 
a  friend  and  companion  of  Gratian,  and  had  fought 
under  Theodosius. 

They  passed  the  Danube,  overran  Macedon,  and 
spread  all  over  Greece,  where,  being  Arian  Chris- 
tians, they  destroyed  with  all  their  might  all  the 
remaining  statues  and  temples  of  the  old  pagans  ; 
although,  as  they  did  not  attack  Athens,  the  pagans, 
who  were  numerous  there,  fancied  that  they  were 
prevented  by  a  vision  of  Apollo  and  Pallas  Athene. 
Arcadius  sent  to  his  brother  for  aid,  and  Stilicho 
marched  through  Thrace  ;  Rufinus  was  murdered 
through  his  contrivance,  and  then,  marching  on 
into  the  Peloponnesus,  he  defeated  Alaric  in  battle, 
and  drove  him  out  from  thence,  but  no  further 
than  Epirus,  where  the  Goths  took  up  their  station 
to  wait  for  another  opportunity  ;  but  by  this  time 


Marie  the  Gfoth.  387 

Arcadius  had  grown  afraid  of  Stilicho,  sent  him 
back  to  Italy  with  many  gifts  and  promises,  and 
engaged  Alaric  to  be  the  guardian  of  his  empire, 
not  only  against  the  wild  tribes,  but  against  his 
brother  and  his  minister. 

This  was  a  fine  chance  for  Alaric,  who  had  all 
the  temper  of  a  great  conqueror,  and  to  the  wild 
bravery  of  a  Goth  had  added  the  knowledge  and 
skill  of  a  Roman  general.  He  led  his  forces 
through  the  Alps  into  Italy,  and  showed  himself 
before  the  gates  of  Milan.  The  poor  weak  boy 
Honorius  was  carried  off  for  safety  to  Ravenna, 
while  Stilicho  gathered  all  the  troops  from  Gaul, 
and  left  Britain  unguarded  by  Roman  soldiers,  to 
protect  the  heart  of  the  empire.  With  these  he 
attacked  Alaric,  and  gained  a  great  victory  at  Pol- 
lentia  ;  the  Goths  retreated ;  he  followed  and  beat 
them  again  at  Verona,  driving  them  out  of  Italy. 

It  was  the  last  Roman  victory,  and  it  was  cele- 
brated by  the  last  Roman  triumph.  There  had 
been  three  hundred  triumphs  of  Roman  generals, 
but  it  was  Honorius  who  entered  Rome  in  the  car 
of  victory  and  was  taken  to  the  Capitol,  and  after- 
wards there  were  games  in  the  amphitheatre  as 
usual,  and  fights  of  gladiators.  In  the  midst  of 
the  horrid  battle  a  voice  was  heard  bidding  it  to 


388  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

cease  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  between  the 
swords  there  was  seen  standing  a  monk  in  his  dark 
brown  dress,  holding  up  his  hand  and  keeping  back 
the  blows.  There  was  a  shout  of  rage,  and  he  was 
cut  down  and  killed  in  a  moment ;  but  then  in 
horror  the  games  were  stopped.  It  was  found  that 
he  was  an  Egyptian  monk  named  Telemachus, 
freshly  come  to  Rome.  No  one  knew  any  more 
about  him,  but  this  noble  death  of  his  put  an  end 
to  shows  of  gladiators.  Chariot  races  and  games 
went  on,  though  the  good  and  thoughtful  disap- 
proved of  the  wild  excitement  they  caused  ;  but 
the  horrid  sports  of  death  and  blood  were  ended 
for  ever. 

Alaric  was  driven  back  for  a  time,  but  there  were 
swarms  of  Germans  who  were  breaking  in  where 
the  line  of  boundary  had  been  left  undefended  by 
the  soldiers  being  called  away  to  fight  the  Goths. 
A  fierce  heathen  chief  named  Radegaisus  advanced 
with  at  least  200,000  men  as  far  as  Florence,  but 
was  there  beaten  by  the  brave  Stilicho,  and  was 
put  to  death,  while  the  other  prisoners  were  sold 
into  slavery.  But  Stilicho,  brave  as  he  was,  was 
neither  loved  nor  trusted  by  the  Emperor  or  the 
people.  Some  abused  him  for  not  bringing  back 
the  old  gods  under  whom,  they  said,  Rome  had  pros- 


Marie  the  Goth.  389 

pered ;  others  said  that  he  was  no  honest  Christian, 
and  all  believed  that  he  meant  to  make  his  son 
Emperor.  When  he  married  this  son  to  a  daughter 
of  Arcadius,  people  made  sure  that  this  was  his 
purpose.  Honorius  listened  to  the  accusation,  and 
his  favorite  Olympius  persuaded  the  army  to  give 
up  Stilicho.  He  fled  to  a  church,  but  was  per- 
suaded to  come  out  of  it,  and  was  then  put  to 
death. 

And  at  that  very  time  Alaric  was  crossing  the 
Alps.  There  was  no  one  to  make  any  resistance. 
Honorius  was  at  Ravenna,  safe  behind  walls  and 
marshes,  and  cared  for  nothing  but  his  favorite 
poultry.  Alaric  encamped  outside  the  walls  of 
Rome,  but  he  did  not  attempt  to  break  in,  waiting 
till  the  Romans  should  be  starved  out.  When  they 
had  come  to  terrible  distress,  they  offered  to  ransom 
their  city.  He  asked  a  monstrous  sum,  which  they 
refused,  telling  him  what  hosts  there  were  of  them, 
and  that  he  might  yet  find  them  dangerous.  "  The 
thicker  the  hay,  the  easier  to  mow,"  said  the  Goth. 
"  What  will  you  leave  us  then  ? "  they  asked. 
"  Your  lives,"  was  the  answer. 

The  ransom  the  wretched  Romans  agreed  to  pay 
was  5000  pounds'  weight  of  gold  and  30,000  of 
silver,  4000  silk  robes,  3000  pieces  of  scarlet  cloth, 


390  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

and  3000  pounds  of  pepper.  They  stripped  the  roof 
of  the  temple  in  the  Capitol,  and  melted  down  the 
images  of  the  old  gods  to  raise  the  sum,  and  Alaric 
drew  off  his  men  ;  but  he  came  again  the  next  year, 
blocked  up  Ostia,  and  starved  them  faster.  This 
time  he  brought  a  man  named  Attalus,  whom  he 
ordered  them  to  admit  as  Emperor,  and  they  did 
so  ;  but  as  the  governor  of  Africa  would  send  no 
corn  while  this  man  reigned,  the  people  rose  and' 
drove  him  out,  and  thus  for  the  third  time  brought 
Alaric  down  on  them.  The  gates  were  opened  to 
him  at  night,  and  he  entered  Rome  on  the  24th  of 
August,  410,  exactly  eight  hundred  years  after  the 
sack  of  Rome  by  Brennus. 

Alaric  did  not  wish  to  ruin  and  destroy  the  grand 
old  city,  nor  to  massacre  the  inhabitants  ;  but  his 
Goths  were  thirsty  for  the  spoil  he  had  kept  them  from 
so  long,  and  he  gave  them  leave  to  plunder  for  six 
days,  but  not  to  kill,  nor  to  do  any  harm  to  the 
churches.  A  set  of  wild,  furious  men  could  not, 
of  course,  be  kept  in  by  these  orders,  and  terrible 
misfortunes  befell  many  unhappy  families  ;  but  the 
mischief  done  was  much  less  than  could  have  been 
expected,  and  the  great  churches  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul  were  unhurt.  One  old  lady  named  Mar- 
cella,  a  friend  of  St.  Jerome,  was  beaten  to  make 


ALAK1C  £    BUitlAi 


Alaric  the  Goth.  393 

her  show  where  her  treasures  were ;  but  when  at 
last  her  tormentors  canit?  to  believe  that  she  had 
spent  her  all  on  charity,  they  led  her  to  the  shelter 
of  the  church  with  her  friends,  soon  to  die  of  what 
she  had  undergone.  After  twelve  days,  however, 
Alaric  drew  off  his  forces,  leaving  Rome  to  shift  for 
itself.  Bishop  Innocent  was  at  Ravenna,  where  he 
had  gone  to  ask  help  from  the  Emperor ;  but 
Honorius  knew  and  cared  so  little  that  when  he 
was  told  Rome  was  lost,  he  only  thought  of  his 
favorite  hen  whose  name  was  Rome,  and  said, 
"That  cannot  be,  for  I  have  just  fed  her."' 

Alaric  marched  southward,  the  Goths  plundering 
the  villas  of  the  Roman  nobles  on  their  way.  At 
Cosenza,  in  the  extreme  south,  he  fell  ill  of  a  fever 
and  died.  His  warriors  turned  the  stream  of  the 
river  Bionzo  out  of  its  course,  caused  his  grave  to 
be  dug  in  the  bed  of  the  torrent,  and  when  his 
corpse  had  been  laid  there,  they  slew  all  the  slaves 
who  had  done  the  work,  so  that  none  might  be 
able  to  tell  where  lay  the  great  Goth. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

THE   VANDALS. 

403. 

ONE  good  thing  came  of  the  Gothic  conquest — 
the  pagans  were  put  to  silence  for  ever.  The 
temples  had  been  razed,  the  idols  broken,  and  no 
one  set  them  up  again ;  but  the  whole  people  ol 
Rome  were  Christian,  at  least  in  name,  from  that 
time  forth ;  and  the  temples  and  halls  of  justice 
began  to  be  turned  into  churches. 

Honorius  still  lived  his  idle  life  at  Ravenna,  and 
the  Bishop  —  or,  as  the  Romans  called  him,  Papa, 
father,  or  Pope  ■ —  came  back  and  helped  them  to 
put  matters  into  order  again.  Alaric  had  left  no 
son,  but  his  wife's  brother  Atauif  became  leader  of 
the  Goths.  At  Rome  he  had  made  prisoner  Theo- 
dosius'  daughter  Placidia,  and  lie  married  her ;  but 
he  did  not  choose  to  rule  at  Rome,  because,  as  he  said, 

his  Goths  would  never  bear  a  quiet  life  in  a  city.     So 
394 


The    Vandals.  395 

he  promised  to  protect  the  empire  for  Honorius,  and 
led  his  tribe  away  from  Italy  to  Spain,  which  they 
conquered,  and  began  a  king'dom  there.  They 
were  therefore  known  as  the  Visigoths,  or  Western 
Goths. 

Arcadius,  in  the  meantime,  reigned  quietly  at 
Constantinople,  where  St.  John  Chrysostom,  the 
golden-mouthed  preacher  of  Antioch,  was  made 
Patriarch,  or  father-bishop.  The  games  and  races 
in  the  circus  at  Constantinople  were  as  madly  run 
after  as  they  had  ever  been  at  Rome  or  Thessalon- 
ica ;  there  were  not  indeed  shows  of  gladiators, 
but  people  set  themselves  with  foolish  vehemence 
to  back  up  one  driver  against  another,  wearing  their 
colors  and  calling  themselves  by  their  names,  and 
the  two  factions  of  the  Greens  and  the  Blues  were 
ready  to  tear  each  other  to  pieces.  The  Empress 
Eudoxia,  Arcadius'  wife,  was  one  of  the  most  vehe- 
ment of  all,  and  was,  besides,  a  vain,  silly  woman, 
who  encouraged  all  kinds  of  pomp  and  expense. 
St.  Chrysostom  preached  against  all  the  mischiefs 
that  thus  arose,  so  that  she  was  offended,  and  con- 
trived to  raise  up  an  accusation  against  him  and 
have  him  driven  out  of  the  city.  The  people  of 
Constantinople  still  showed  so  much  love  for  him 
that  she  insisted  on  his  being  sent  further  off  to  the 


396  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


bleak  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  on  the  journey 
he  died,  his  last  words  being,  "  Glory  be  to  God  in 
all  things." 

Arcadius  died  in  408,  leaving  a  young  son,  called 


lllllliiilwni 

ilOMAN    CLOCK, 


The    Vandals.  397 

Theodosius  II.,  in  the  care  of  his  elder  sister  Pul- 
cheria,  under  whom  the  Eastern  Empire  lay  at 
peace,  while  the  miseries  of  the  Western  went  on 
increasing.  New  Emperors  were  set  up  by  the 
legions  in  the  distant  provinces,  but  were  soon 
overthrown,  while  Honorius  only  remained  at 
Ravenna  by  the  support  of  the  kings  of  the  Teuton 
tribes;  and  as  he  never  trusted  them  or  kept  faith 
with  them,  he  was  always  offending  them  and  being- 
punished  by  fresh  attacks  on  some  part  of  his  em- 
pire, for  which  he  did  not  greatly  care  so  long  as 
they  let  him  alone. 

Ataulf  died  in  Spain,  and  Placidia  came  back  to 
Ravenna,  where  Honorius  gave  her  in  marriage  to 
a  Roman  general  named  Constantius,  and  she  had 
a  son  named  Valentinian,  who,  when  his  uncle  died 
after  thirty-seven  years  of  a  wretched  reign,  became 
Emperor  in  his  stead,  under  his  mother's  guardian- 
ship, in  423. 

Two  great  generals  who  were  really  able  men 
were  her  chief  supporters  —  Boniface,  Count  or 
Commander  of  Africa ;  and  Aetius,  who  is  some- 
times called  the  last  of  the  Romans,  though  he  was 
not  by  birth  a  Roman  at  all,  but  a  Scythian.  He 
gained  the  ear  of  the  Empress  Placidia,  and  per- 
suaded her  that  Boniface  wanted  to  set  himself  up 


398 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


in  Africa  as  Emperor,  so  that  she  sent  to  recall  him, 
and  evil  friends  assured  him  that  she  meant  to  put 
him  to  death  as  soon  as  he  arrived.  He  vras  very 
much  enraged,  and  though  St.  Augustine,  now  an 
old  man,  who  had  long  been  Bishop  of  Hippo,  ad- 


SI'ANISH   COAST. 


vised  him  to  restrain  his  anger,  he  called  on  Gen- 
seric,  the  chief  of  the  Vandals,  to  come  and  help 
him  to  defend  his  province. 

The  Vandals  were  another  tribe  of  Teutons  — 
tall,  strong,  fair-haired,  and  much  like  the  Goths, 


The  Vandals.  399 

and,  like  them,  they  were  Arians.  They  had 
marauded  in  Italy,  and  then  had  followed  the 
Goths  to  Spain,  where  they  had  established  them- 
selves in  the  South,  iD  the  country  called  from  them 
Vandalusia,  or  Andalusia.  Their  chief  was  only 
too  glad  to  obey  the  summons  of  Boniface,  but  be- 
fore he  came  the  Roman  had  found  out  his  mistake  ; 
Placidia  had  apologized  to  him,  and  all  was  right 
between  him.  But  it  was  now  too  late  ;  Genseric 
and  his  Vandals  were  on  the  way,  and  there  was 
nothing  for  it  but  to  fight  his  best  against  them. 

He  could  not  save  Carthage,  and,  though  he 
made  the  bravest  defence  in  his  power,  he  was 
driven  into  Hippo,  which  was  so  strongly  fortified 
that  he  was  able  to  hold  it  out  a  whole  year,  during 
which  time  St.  Augustine  died,  after  a  long  illness. 
He  had  caused  the  seven  penitential  Psalms  to  be 
written  out  on  the  walls  of  his  room,  and  was  con- 
stantly musing  on  them.  He  died,  and  was  buried 
in  peace  before  the  city  was  taken.  Boniface  held 
out  for  five  years  altogether  before  Africa  was  en- 
tirely taken  by  the  Vandals,  and  a  miserable  time 
beean  for  the  Church,  for  Genseric  was  an  Arian, 
and  set  himself  to  crush  out  the  Catholic  Church 
by  taking  away  her  buildings  and  grievously  per- 
secuting her  faithful  bishops. 


400  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Valentinian  III.  made  a  treaty  with  him,  and  even 
yielded  up  to  him  all  right  to  the  old  Roman  prov- 
ince of  Africa ;  but  Genseric  had  a  strong  fleet  of 
ships,  and  went  on  attacking  and  plundering  Sicily, 
Corsica,  Sardinia,  Italy  and  the  coasts  of  Greece. 

Britain,  at  the  same  time,  was  being  so  tormented 
by  the  attacks  of  the  Saxons  by  sea,  and  the  Cale- 
donians from  the  north,  that  her  chiefs  sent  a 
piteous  letter  to  Aetius  in  Gaul,  beginning  with 
'•'  The  groans  of  the  Britons ; "  but  Aetius  could 
send  no  help,  and  Gaul  itself  was  being  overrun  by 
the  Goths  in  the  south,  the  Burgundians  in  the 
middle,  and  the  Franks  in  the  north,  so  that  scarcely 
more  than  Italy  itself  remained  to  Valentinian. 

The  Eastern  half  of  the  Empire  was  better  off, 
though  it  was  tormented  by  the  Persians  in  the 
East,  on  the  northern  border  by  the  Eastern  Goths 
or  Ostrogoths,  who  had  stayed  on  the  banks  of  the 
Danube  instead  of  coming  to  Italy,  and  to  the  south 
by  the  Vandals  from  Africa.  But  Pulcheria  was 
so  wise  and  good  that,  when  her  young  brother  Theo- 
dosius  II.  died  without  children,  the  people  begged 
her  to  choose  a  husband  who  might  be  an  Emperor 
for  them.  She  chose  a  wise  old  senator  named 
Marcian,  and  when  he  died,  she  again  chose  an- 
other good  and  wise  man  named  Zeno ;  and  thus 


The   Vandals. 


403 


the  Eastern  Empire  stood  while  the  West  was  fast 
crumbling  away.  The  nobles  were  almost  all  vain, 
weak  cowards,  who  only  thought  of  themselves, 
and  left  strangers  to  fight  their  battles ;  and  every 
one  was  cowed  with  fear,  for  a  more  terrible  foe 
than  any  was  now  coming  on  them. 


l'YKAMIDS  AND   SPHINX   IN   EGYPT. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

ATTILA      THE      HUN. 

435—457. 

THE  terrible  enemy  who  was  coming  against 
the  unhappy  Roman  Empire  was  the  nation 
of  Huns,  a  wild,  savage  race,  who  were  of  the  same 
stock  as  the  Tartars,  and  dwelt  as  they  do  in  the 
northern  parts  of  Asia,  keeping  huge  herds  of 
horses,  spending  their  life  on  horseback,  and  using 
mares'  milk  as  food.  They  were  an  ugly,  small, 
but  active  race,  and  used  to  cut  their  children's 
faces  that  the  scars  might  make  them  look  more 
terrible  to  their  enemies.  Just  at  this  time  a  great 
spirit  of  conquest  had  come  upon  them,  and  they 
had,  as  said  before,  driven  the  Goths  over  the 
Danube  fifty  years  ago,  and  seized  the  lands  we 

still  call  Hungary.     A  most  mighty  and  warlike 
404 


Attila  the  Hun.  407 

chief  called  Attila  had  become  their  head,  and 
wherever  he  went  his  track  was  marked  by  blood 
and  flame,  so  that  he  was  called  "  The  Scourge  of 
God."  His  home  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Theiss, 
in  a  camp  enclosed  with  trunks  of  trees,  for  he  did 
not  care  to  dwell  in  cities  or  establish  a  kingdom, 
though  the  wild  tribes  of  Huns  from  the  furthest 
parts  of  Asia  followed  his  standard  —  a  sword 
fastened  to  a  pole,  which  was  said  to  be  also  his 
idol. 

He  threatened  to  fall  upon  the  two  empires,  and 
an  embassy  was  sent  to  him  at  his  camp.  The 
Huns  would  not  dismount,  and  thus  the  Romans 
were  forced  to  address  them  on  horseback.  The 
only  condition  upon  which  he  would  abstain  from 
invading  the  empire  was  the  paying  of  an  enormous 
tribute,  beyond  what  almost  any  power  of  theirs 
could  attempt  to  raise.  However,  he  did  not  then 
attack  Italy,  but  turned  upon  Gaul.  So  much  was 
he  hated  and  dreaded  by  the  Teutonic  nations,  that 
all  Goths,  Franks,  and  Burgundians  flocked  to  join 
the  Roman  forces  under  Aetius  to  drive  him  back. 
They  came  just  in  time  to  save  the  city  of  Orleans 
from  being  ravaged  by  him,  and  defeated  him  in 
the  battle  of  Chalons  with  a  great  slaughter  •  but  he 


408  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

made  good  his  retreat  from  Gaul  with  an  immense 
number  of  captives,  whom  he  killed  in  revenge. 

The  next  year  he  demanded  that  Valentinian's 
sister,  Honoria,  should  be  given  to  him,  and  when 
she  was  refused,  he  led  his  host  into  Italy  and  de- 
stroyed all  the  beautiful  cities  of  the  north.  A 
great  many  of  the  inhabitants  fled  into  the  islands 
among  the  salt  marshes  and  pools  at  the  head  of 
the  Adriatic  Sea,  between  the  mouths  of  the  rivers 
Po  and  Adige,  where  no  enemy  could  reach  them  ; 
and  there  they  built  houses  and  made  a  town, 
which  in  time  became  the  great  city  of  Venice,  the 
queen  of  the  Adriatic. 

Aetius  was  still  in  Gaul,  the  wretched  Valen- 
tinian  at  Ravenna  was  helpless  and  useless,  and 
Attila  proceeded  towards  Rome.  It  was  well  for 
Rome  that  she  had  a  brave  and  devoted  Pope  in 
Leo.  I.,  who  went  out  at  the  head  of  his  clergy  to 
meet  the  barbarian  in  his  tent,  and  threaten  him 
with  the  wrath  of  Heaven  if  he  should  let  loose  his 
cruel  followers  upon  the  city.  Attila  was  struck 
with  his  calm  greatness,  and,  remembering  that 
Alaric  had  died  soon  after  plundering  Rome,  be- 
came afraid.  He  consented  to  accept  of  Honoria's 
dowry  instead  of  herself,  and  to  be  content  with  a 
great  ransom  for  the  city  of  Rome.     He  then  re- 


Attila  the  Hun.  411 

turned  to  his  camp  on  the  Danube  with  all  his 
horde,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  he  married  a  young 
girl  whom  he  had  made  prisoner.  The  next  morn- 
ing he  was  found  dead  on  his  bed  in  a  pool  of  his 
own  blood,  and  she  was  gone  ;  but  as  there  was  no 
wound  about  him,  it  was  thought  that  he  had 
broken  a  blood-vessel  in  the  drunken  fit  in  which 
he  fell  asleep,  and  that  she  had  fled  in  terror.  His 
warriors  tore  their  cheeks  with  their  daggers,  say- 
ing that  he  ought  to  be  mourned  only  with  tears  of 
blood  ;  but  as  they  had  no  chief  as  able  and  daring 
as  he,  they  gradually  fell  back  again  to  their  north- 
eastern settlements,  and  troubled  Europe  no  more. 
Valentinian  thought  the  danger  over,  and  when 
Aetius  came  back  to  Ravenna,  he  grew  jealous  of 
his  glory  and  stabbed  him  with  his  own  hand.  Soon 
after  he  offended  a  senator  named  Maximus,  who 
killed  him  in  revenge,  became  Emperor,  and  mar- 
ried his  widow,  Eudoxia,  the  daughter  of  Theodo- 
sius  II.  of  Constantinople,  telling  her  that  it  was 
for  love  of  her  that  her  husband  was  slain.  Eu- 
doxia sent  a  message  to  invite  the  dreadful  Gen- 
seric,  king  of  the  Vandals,  to  come  and  deliver  her 
from  a  rebel  who  had  slain  the  lawful  Emperor. 
Genseric's  ships  were  read}-,  and  sailed  into  the 
T-ber  ;  while  the  Romans,  mad  with  terror,  stoned 


412  Young  Folks,''  History  of  Home. 

Maximus  in  their  streets.  Nobody  had  any  courage 
or  resolution  but  the  Pope  Leo,  who  went  forth 
again  to  meet  the  barbarian  and  plead  for  his  city ; 
but  Genseric  being  an  Arian,  had  not  the  same  awe 
of  him  as  the  wild  Huns,  hated  the  Catholics,  and 
was  eager  for  the  prey.  He  would  accept  no  ran- 
som instead  of  the  plunder,  but  promised  that  the 
lives  of  the  Romans  should  be  spared.  This  was 
the  most  dreadful  calamity  that  Rome,  once  the 
queen  of  cities,  had  undergone.  The  pillage  lasted 
fourteen  days,  and  the  Vandals  stripped  churches, 
houses,  and  all  alike,  putting  their  booty  on  board 
their  ships ;  but  much  was  lost  in  a  storm  between 
Italy  and  Africa.  The  golden  candlestick  and 
shew-bread  table  belonging  to  the  Temple  at  Jeru- 
salem were  carried  off  to  Carthage  with  the  spoil, 
and  no  less  than  sixty  thousand  captives,  among 
them  the  Empress  Eudoxia,  who  had  been  the 
means  of  bringing  in  Genseric,  with  her  two 
daughters.  The  Empress  was  given  back  to  her 
friends  at  Constantinople,  but  one  of  her  daughters 
was  kept  by  the  Vandals,  and  was  married  to  the 
son  of  Genseric.  After  plundering  all  the  south  of 
Italy,  Genseric  went  back  to  Africa  without  trying 
to  keep  Rome  or  set  up  a  kingdom  ;  and  when  he 
was  gone,  the  Romans  elected  as  Emperor  a  sena-cr 


THE   POPES    HOTTSXi 


Attila  the  Hun^  415 

named  Avitus,   a    Gaul   by   birth,  a   peaceful   and 
good  man. 

His  daughter  had  married  a  most  excellent  Gaul- 
ish gentleman  named  Sidonius  Apollinaris,  who 
wrote  such  good  poetry  that  the  Romans  placed  his 
bust  crowned  with  laurel  in  the  Capitol.  He 
wrote  many  letters,  too,  winch  are  preserved  to  this 
time,  and  show  that,  in  the  midst  of  all  tins  crum- 
bling power  of  Rome,  people  in  Southern  Gaul 
managed  to  have  many  peaceful  days  of  pleasant 
country  life.  But  Sidonius'  cpuiet  days  came  to  an 
end  when,  la}*man  and  lawyer  as  he  was,  the  peo- 
ple of  Clermont  begged  him  to  be  their  Bishop. 
The  Church  stood,  whatever  fell,  and  people  trusted 
more  to  their  Bishop  than  to  any  one  else,  and 
wanted  him  to  be  the  ablest  man  they  could  find.  So 
Sidonius  took  the  charge  of  them,  and  helped  them 
to  hold  out  their  mountain  city  of  Clermont  for  a 
whole  year  against  the  Gotns,  and  gained  good 
terms  for  them  at  last,  though  he  himself  had  to 
suffer  imprisonment  and  exile  from  these  Arisn 
Goths  because  of  his  Catholic  faith. 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

THEODORIC    THE    OSTROGOTH. 

457—561. 

A  VITUS  was  a  good  man,  but  the  Romans 
grew  weary  of  him,  and  in  the  year  457  they 
engaged  Ricimer,  a  chief  of  the  Teutonic  tribe  called 
Suevi,  to  drive  him  out,  when  he  went  back  to 
Gaul,  where  he  had  a  beautiful  palace  and  garden. 
After  ten  months  Ricimer  chose  another  Sueve  to 
be  Emperor.  He  had  been  a  captain  under  Aetius, 
and  had  the  Roman  name  of  Majorian.  He  showed 
himself  brave  and  spirited  ;  led  an  army  into  Spain 
and  attacked  Genseric ;  but  he  was  beaten,  and 
came  back  disappointed.  Ricimer  was,  however, 
jealous  of  him,  forced  him  to  resign,  and  soon  after 
poisoned  him. 

After  this,  Ricimer   really   ruled   Italy,  but  he 
416 


Theodoric  the    Ostrogoth.  417 

seemed  to  have  a  sort  of  awe  of  the  title  of  Caesar 
Augustus,  the  Emperor,  for  he  forbore  to  use  it 
himself,  and  gave  it  to  one  poor  weak  wretch  after 
another  until  his  death  in  472.  His  nephew  went 
on  in  the  same  course  ;  but  at  last  a  soldier  named 
Orestes,  of  Roman  birth,  gained  the  chief  power, 
and  set  up  as  Emperor  his  own  little  son,  whose 
Christian  name  was  Romulus  Augustus,  making 
him  wear  the  purple  and  the  crown,  and  calling 
him  by  all  the  titles  ;  but  the  Romans  made  his 
name  into  Augustulus,  or  Little  Augustus.  At 
the  end  of  a  year,  a  Teutonic  chief  named  Odoacer 
crossed  the  Alps  at  the  head  of  a  great  mixture  of 
different  German  tribes,  and  Orestes  could  make 
no  stand  against  him,  but  was  taken  and  put  to 
death.  His  little  boy  was  spared,  and  was  placed 
at  Sorrento  ;  but  Odoacer  sent  the  crown  and  robes 
of  the  West  to  Zeno,  the  Eastern  Emperor,  saying 
that  one  Emperor  was  enough.  So  fell  the  Roman 
power  in  476,  exactly  twelve  centuries  after  the  date 
of  the  founding  of  Rome.  It  was  thought  that  this 
was  meant  by  the  twelve  vultures  seen  by  Romulus, 
and  that  the  seven  which  Remus  saw  denoted  the 
seven  centuries  that  the  Republic  stood.  It  was 
curious,  too,  that  it  should  be  with  the  two  names  of 
Romulus  and  Augustus  that  Rome  and  her  empire 
fell. 


418  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Odoacer  called  himself  king,  and,  indeed,  the 
Western  Empire,  had  been  nearly  all  seized  by  dif- 
ferent kings  —  the  Vandal  kings  in  Africa,  the 
Gothic  kings  in  Spain  and  Southern  Gaul,  the  Bur- 
gundian  kings  and  Frank  kings  in  Northern  Gaul, 
the  Saxon  kings  in  Britain.  The  Ostro  or  Eastern 
Goths,  who  had  since  the  time  of  Valens  dwelt  on 
the  banks  of  the  Danube,  had  been  subdued  by 
Attila,  but  recovered  their  freedom  after  his  death. 
One  of  their  young  chiefs,  named  Theodoric,  was 
sent  as  a  hostage  to  Constantinople,  and  there 
learned  much.  He  became  king  of  the  Eastern 
Goths  in  470,  and  showed  himself  such  a  dangerous 
neighbor  to  the  Eastern  Empire  that,  to  be  rid  of 
him  the  Emperor  Zeno  advised  him  to  go  and  at- 
tack Odoacer  in  Italy.  The  Ostrogoths  marched 
seven  hundred  miles,  and  came  over  the  Alps  into 
the  plains  of  Northern  Italy,  where  Odoacer  fought 
with  them  bravely,  but  was  beaten.  They  besieged 
him  even  in  Ravenna,  till  after  three  years  he  was 
obliged  to  surrender  and  was  put  to  death. 

Rome  could  make  no  defence,  and  fell  into 
Theodoric's  hands  with  the  rest  of  Italy ;  but  he 
was  by  far  the  best  of  the  conquerors  —  he  did  not 
hurt  or  misuse  them,  and  only  wished  his  Goths  to 
learn  of  them  and  become  peaceful  farmers.     He 


ROMULUS  AUGUSTUS  RESIGNS  THE  CROWN. 


TJieodorio  the    Ostrogoth.  421 

gave  them  the  lands  which  had  lost  their  owners  ; 
about  thirty  or  forty  thousand  families  were  settled 
there  by  him  on  the  waste  lands,  and  the  Romans 
who  were  left  took  courage  and  worked  too.  He 
did  not  live  at  Rome,  though  he  came  thither  and 
was  complimented  by  the  Senate,  and  he  set  a  sum 
by  every  year  for  repairing  the  old  buildings ;  but 
he  chiefly  lived  at  Verona,  where  he  reigned  over 
both  the  Eastern  and  Western  Goths  in  Gaul  and 
Italy. 

He  was  an  Arian,  but  he  did  not  persecute  the 
Catholics,  and  to  such  persons  as  changed  their 
profession  of  faith  to  please  him  he  showed  no  more 
favor,  saying  that  those  who  were  not  faithful  to 
their  God  would  never  be  faithful  to  their  earthly 
master.  He  reigned  thirty-three  years,  but  did  not 
end  as  well  as  he  began,  for  he  grew  irritable  and 
distrustful  with  age  ;  and  the  Romans,  on  the  other 
hand,  forgot  that  they  were  not  the  free,  prosperous 
nation  of  old,  and  displeased  him.  Two  of  their 
very  best  men,  Boethius  and  Symmachus,  were 
by  him  kept  for  a  long  time  prisoners  at  Rome  and 
then  put  to  death.  While  Boethius  was  in  prison 
at  Pavia,  he  wrote  a  book  called  The  Consolations 
of  Philosophy,  so  beautiful  that  the  English  king 


422  Young  -Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

Alfred  translated  it  into  Saxon  four  centuries  later. 
Theodoric  kept  up  a  correspondence  with  the  other 
Gothic  kings  wherever  a  tribe  of  his  people  dwelt, 
even  as  far  as  Sweden  and  Denmark  ;  but  as  even 
he  could  not  write,  and  only  had  a  seal  with  the 
letters  6E0J  with  which  to  make  his  signature, 
the  whole  was  conducted  in  Latin  by  Roman  slaves 
on  either  side,  who  interpreted  to  their  masters. 
An  immense  number  of  letters  from  Theodoric's 
secretary  are  preserved,  and  show  what  an  able 
man  his  master  was,  and  how  well  he  deserved  his 
name  of  "The  Great."  He  died  in  526,  leaving 
only  two  daughters.  Their  two  sons,  Amalric  and 
Athalaric,  divided  the  Eastern  and  Western  Goths 
between  them  again. 

Seven  Gothic  kings  reigned  over  Northern  Italy 
after  Theodoric.  They  were  fierce  and  restless, 
but  had  nothing  like  his  strength  and  spirit,  and 
they  chiefly  lived  in  the  more  northern  cities  — 
Milan,  Verona,  and  Ravenna,  leaving  Rome  to  be 
a  tributary  city  to  them,  where  there  still  remained 
the  old  names  of  Senate  and  Consuls,  but  the  per- 
son who  was  generally  most  looked  up  to  and 
trusted  was  the  Pope.  All  this  time  Rome  was 
leavening   the   nations   who   had    conquered    her. 


Theodorie  the    Ostrogoth. 


423 


When  they  tried  to  learn  civilized  ways,  it  was 
from  her  ;  they  learned  to  speak  her  tongue,  never 
wrote  but  in  Latin,  and  worshipped  with  Latin 
prayers  and  services.  Far  above  all,  these  conquer- 
ors learned  Christianity  from  the  Romans.  When 
everything  else  was  ruined,  the  Bishop  and  clergy 


remained,  and  became  the  chief  counsellors  and  ad- 
visers of  many  of  these  kings. 

It  was  just  at  this  time  that  there  was  living  at 
Monte  Casino,  in  the  South  of  Italy,  St.  Benedict, 
an  Italian  hermit,' who  was  there  joined  by  a  num- 
ber of  others  who,  like  him,  longed  to  pray  for  the 
sinful  world  apart  rather  than  fight  and  struggle 
with  bad  men.     He  formed  them  into  a  great  band 


424 


Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 


of  monks,  all  wearing  a  plain  dark  dress  Wxth  a 
hood,  and  following  a  strict  rule  of  plain  living, 
hard  work,  and  prayers  at  seven  regular  hours  in 
the  course  of  the  day  and  night.  His  rule  was 
called  the  Benedictine,  and  houses  of  monks  arose 
in  many  places,  and  were  safe  shelters  in  these 
fierce  times. 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

BELISAJRIUS. 
533—563. 

THE  Teutonic  nations  soon  lost  their  spirit 
when  they  had  settled  in  the  luxurious 
Roman  cities,  and  as  they  were  as  fierce  as  ever,  their 
kings  tore  one  another  to  pieces.  A  very  able  Em- 
peror, named  Justinian,  had  come  to  the  throne  in 
the  East,  and  in  his  armies  there  had  grown  up  a 
Thracian  who  was  one  of  the  greatest  and  best 
generals  the  world  has  ever  seen.  His  name  was 
Belisarius,  and  strange  to  say,  both  he  and  the  Em- 
peror had  married  the  daughters  of  two  charioteers 
in  the  circus  races.  The  Empress  was  named 
Theodora,  the  general's  wife  Antonina,  and  their 
acquaintance  first  made  Belisarius  known  to  Jus- 
tinian, who,  by  his  means,  ended  by  winning  back 

great  part  of  the  Western  Empire. 

425 


426  Young  Folks'   History  of  Rome.     • 

He  began  with  Africa,  where  Genseric's  grand- 
son was  reigning  over  the  Vandals,  and  paying  so 
little  heed  to  his  defences  that  Belisarius  landed 
without  any  warning,  and  called  all  the  multitudes 
of  old  Roman  inhabitants  to  join  him,  which  they 
joyfully  did.  He  defeated  the  Vandals  in  battle, 
entered  Carthage,  and  restored  the  power  of  the 
empire.  He  brought  away  the  golden  candlestick 
and  treasures  of  the  Temple,  and  the  cross  believed 
to  be  the  true  one,  and  carried  them  to  Constanti- 
nople, whence  the  Emperor  sent  them  back  to  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem. 

Just  as  Belisarius  had  returned  to  Constantino- 
ple, a  piteous  entreaty  came  to  Justinian  from 
Amalosontha,  the  daughter  of  Theodoric,  who  had 
been  made  prisoner  by  Theoclotus,  the  husband  she 
had  chosen.  It  seemed  to  be  opening  a  way  for 
getting  back  Italy,  and  Justinian  sent  off  Belisarius  ; 
but  before  he  had  sailed,  the  poor  Gothic  queen 
had  been  strangled  in  her  bath.  Belisarius,  how- 
ever, with  4500  horse  and  3000  foot  soldiers,  landed 
in  Sicily  and  soon  conquered  the  whole  island,  all 
the  people  rejoicing  in  his  coming.  He  then  crossed 
to  Rhegium,  and  laid  siege  to  Naples.  As  usual, 
the  inhabitants  were  his  friends,  and  one  of  them 
showed  him  the  way  to  enter  the  city  through  an 


Belisarius. 


427 


old  aqueduct  which  opened  into  an  old  woman's 
garden. 

Theodotus  was  a  coward  as  well  as  a  murderer, 
and  fled  away,  while  a  brave  warrior  named  Vitiges 
was  proclaimed  king  by  the  Goths  at  Rome.     But 


WwmM 

ill 


%1» 


with  the  broken  walls  and  all  the  Roman  citizens 
against  him,  Vitiges  thought  it  best  not  to  try 
to  hold  out  against  Belisarius,  and  retreated  to 
Ravenna,  while  Rome  welcomed  the  Eastern  army 
as  deliverers.  But  Vitiges  was  collecting  an  army 
at  Ravenna,  and  in  three  months  was  besieging 
Rome  again.  Never  had  there  been  greater  bravery 
and  patience  than  Vitiges  showed  outside  the  walls 


428  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

of  Rome,  and  Belisarius  inside,  during  the  summer" 
of  536.  There  was  a  terrible  famine  within ;  all 
kinds  of  strange  food  were  used  in  scanty  measure, 
and  the  Romans  were  so  impatient  of  suffering, 
that  Belisarius  was  forced  to  watch  them  day  and 
night  to  prevent  them  betraying  him  to  the  enemy. 
Indeed,  while  the  siege  lasted  a  whole  year,  nearly 
all  the  people  of  Rome  died  of  hunger  and  wretch- 
edness ;  and  the  Goths,  in  the  unhealthy  Campagna 
around,  died  of  fevers  and  agues,  until  they,  too, 
had  all  perished  except  a  small  band,  which  Vitiges 
led  back  to  Ravenna,  whither  Belisarius  followed 
him,  besieged  him,  made  him  prisoner,  and  carried 
him  to  Constantinople.  Justinian  gave  him  an 
estate  where  he  could  live  in  peace. 

The  Moors  in  Africa  revolted,  and  Belisarius 
next  went  to  subdue  them.  While  he  was  there,  the 
Goths  in  Italy  began  to  recover  from  the  blow  he 
had  given  them,  and  chose  a  brave  young  man 
named  Totila  to  be  their  king.  In  a  very  short 
time  he  had  won  back  almost  all  Italy,  for  there 
really  were  hardly  any  men  left,  and  even  Justinian 
had  only  two  small  armies  to  dispose  of,  and  those 
made  up  of  Thracians  and  Isaurians  from  the  shores 
of  the  Black  Sea.  One  of  these  was  sent  with 
Belisarius  to  attack  the  Goths,  but  was  not  strong 


Belisarius.  431 

enough  to  do  more  than  just  hold  Totila  in  check, 
and  Justinian  would  not  even  send  him  all  the  help 
possible,  because  he  dreaded  the  love  the  army 
bore  to  him.  After  four  years  of  fighting  with 
Totila  he  was  recalled,  and  a  slave  named  Narces, 
who  had  always  lived  in  the  women's  apartment  in 
the  palace,  was  sent  to  take  the  command.  He 
was  really  able  and  skilled,  and  being  better  sup- 
ported, he  gained  a  great  victory  near  Rome,  in 
which  Totila  was  killed,  and  another  near  Naples, 
which  quite  overcame  the  Ostrogoths,  so  that  they 
never  became  a  power  again.  Italy  was  restored 
to  the  Empire,  and  was  governed  by  an  officer  from 
Constantinople,  who  lived  at  Ravenna,  and  was 
called  the  Exarch. 

Belisarius,  in  the  meantime,  was  sent  to  fight 
with  the  king  of  Persia,  Chosroes,  a  very  warlike 
prince,  who  had  overrun  Syria  and  carried  off  many 
prisoners  from  Antioch.  Belisarius  gained  victory 
after  victory  over  him,  and  had  just  driven  him 
back  over  the  rivers,  when  again  came  a  recall,  and 
Narses  was  sent  out  to  finish  the  war.  Theodora, 
the  Empress,  wanted  to  reign  after  her  husband, 
and  had  heard  that,  on  a  report  coming  to  the  army 
of  his  death,  Belisarius  had  said  that  he  should  give 
his  vote  for  Justin,  the  right  heir.    So  she  worked  on 


432  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

the  fears  all  Emperors  had  —  that  their  troops 
might  proclaim  a  successful  general  as  Emperor, 
and  again  Belisarius  was  ordered  home,  while 
Narses  was  sent  to  finish  what  he  had  begun. 

There  was  one  more  war  for  this  great  man  when 
the  wild  Bulgarians  invaded  Thrace,  and  though 
his  soldiers  were  little  better  than  timid  peasants, 
he  drove  them  back  and  saved  the  country.  But 
Justinian  grew  more  and  more  jealous  of  him,  and, 
fancying  untruly  that  he  was  in  a  plot  for  placing 
Justin  on  the  throne,  caused  him  to  be  thrown  into 
prison,  and  sent  him  out  from  thence  stripped  of 
everything,  and  with  his  eyes  torn  out.  He  found 
a  little  child  to  lead  him  to  a  church  door,  where 
he  used  to  sit  with  a  wooden  dish  before  him  for 
alms.  When  it  was  known  who  the  blind  beggar 
was,  there  was  such  an  uproar  among  the  people 
that  Justinian  was  obliged  to  give  him  back  his 
palace  and  some  of  his  riches  ;  but  he  did  not  live 
much  longer. 

Though  Justinian  behaved  so  unjustly  and  un- 
gratefully to  this  great  man  and  faithful  servant, 
he  is  noted  for  better  things,  namely,  for  making 
the  Church  of  St.  Sophia,  or  the  Holy  Wisdom, 
which  Constantine  had  built  at  Constantinople, 
the  most  splendid  of  all  buildings,  and  for  having 


Belisarius.  433 

the  whole  body  of  Roman  laws  thoroughly  over- 
looked and  put  into  order.  Many  even  of  the  old 
heathen  laws  were  very  good  ones,  but  there  were 
others  connected  with  idolatry  that  needed  to  be 
done  away  with ;  and  in  the  course  of  years  so 
many  laws  and  alterations  had  been  made,  that  it 
was  the  study  of  a  lifetime  even  to  know  what  they 
were,  or  how  to  act  on  them.  Justinian  set  his 
best  lawyers  to  put  them  all  in  order,  so  that  it 
might  be  more  easy  to  work  by  them.  The  Roman 
citizens  in  Greece,  Italy,  and  all  the  lands  overrun 
by  the  Teutonic  nations  were  still  judged  by  their 
own  laws,  so  that  this  was  a  very  useful  work ;  and 
it  was  so  well  done  that  the  conquerors  took  them 
up  in  time,  and  the  Roman  law  was  the  great 
model  studied  everywhere  by  those  who  wished  to 
understand  the  rules  of  jurisprudence,  that  is,  of 
law  and  justice.  Thus  in  another  way  Rome  con- 
quered her  conquerors. 

Justinian  died  in  563,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
nephew  Justin,  whose  wife  Sophia  behaved  almost 
as  ill  to  Narses  as  Theodora  had  done  to  Belisa- 
rius,  for  while  he  was  doing  his  best  to  defend 
Italy  from  the  savage  tribes  who  were  ready  at 
any  moment  to  come  over  the  Alps,  she  sent  him  a 
distaff,  and  ordered  him  back  to  his  old  slavery  in 
the  palace. 


CHAPTER  XLVL 

POPE  GREGORY  THE  GREAT. 
563—800. 

NO  sooner  was  Narses  called  home  than  another 
terrible  nation  of  Teutones,  who  had  hithero 
dwelt  in  the  North,  began  to  come  over  the  Alps. 
These  were  the  Longbeards,  or  Lombards,  as  they 
were  more  commonly  called ;  fierce  and  still  heathen. 
Their  king,  Albion,  had  carried  off  Rosamond,  the 
daughter  of  Kunimund,  king  of  the  Gepids,  another 
Teutonic  tribe.  There  was  a  most  terrible  war,  in 
which  Kunimund  was  killed  and  all  his  tribe  broken 
up  and  joined  with  the  Lombards.  "With  the  two 
united,  Alboin  invaded  Italy  and  conquered  all  the 
North.  Ravenna,  Verona,  Milan,  and  all  the  large 
towns  held  out  bravely  against  them,  but  were 
taken  at  last,  except  Venice,  which  still  owned  the 
434 


Pope    Gregory  the  Great. 


435 


Emperor  at  Constantinople.  Alboin  had  kept  the 
skull  of  Kunimund  as  a  trophy,  and  had  had  it  set 
in  gold  for  a  drinking-cup,  as  his  wild  faith  made 
him  believe  that  the  reward   of  the  brave  in-  the 


l'OPE    GKEUOltY    IHB    GKEAT. 


other  world  would  be  to  drink  mead  from  the  skulls 
of  their  fallen  enemies.  In  a  drunken  fit  at  Verona, 
he  sent  for  Rosamond  and  made  her  pledge  him  in 
this  horrible  cup.     She  had  always  hated  him,  and 


436  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

this  made  her  revenge  her  father's  death  by  stab- 
bing him  to  the  heart  in  the  year  573.  The  Lom- 
bard power  did  not,  however,  fall  with  him  ;  his 
nephew  succeeded  him,  and  ruled  over  the  country 
we  still  call  Lombardy.  Rome  was  not  taken  by 
them,  but  was  still  in  name  belonging  to  the  Em- 
peror, though  he  had  little  power  there,  and  the 
Senate  governed  it  in  name,  with  all  the  old  magis- 
trates. The  Praetor  at  the  time  the  Lombards 
arrived  was  a  man  of  one  of  the  old  noble  families, 
Anicius  Gregorius,  or,  as  we  have  learned  to  call 
him,  Gregory.  He  had  always  been  a  good  and 
pious  man,  and  while  he  took  great  care  to  fulfil  all 
the  duties  of  his  office,  his  mind  was  more  and 
more  drawn  away  from  the  world,  till  at  last  he 
became  a  monk  of  St.  Benedict,  gave  all  his  vast 
wealth  to  build  'and  endow  monasteries  and  hospi- 
tals, and  lived  himself  in  an  hospital  for  beggars, 
nursing  them,  studying  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
living  only  on  pulse,  which  his  mother  sent  him 
every  day  in  a  silver  dish  —  the  only  remnant  of 
his  wealth — till  one  day,  having  nothing  else  to 
give  a  shipwrecked  sailor  who  asked  alms,  he  be- 
stowed it  on  him. 

He  was  made  one  of  the  seven  deacons  who  were 
called  Cardinal  Deacons,  because  they  had  charge 


THE    POPES    PULPIT. 


Pope   Grregory  the   Great.  439 

of  the  poor  of  the  principal  parishes  of  Rome  ;  and 
it  was  when  going  about  on  some  errand  of  kind- 
ness that  he  saw  the  English  slave  children  in  the 
market,  and  planned  the  conversion  of  their  coun- 
try ;  but  the  people  would  not  let  him  leave 
Rome,  and  in  590,  the  Senate,  the  clergy,  and  the 
people  chose  him  Pope.  It  was  just  then  that 
a  terrible  pestilence  fell  on  Rome,  and  he  made  the 
people  form  seven  great  processions  —  of  clergy,  of 
monks,  of  nuns,  of  children,  of  men,  of  wives,  and 
of  widows  —  all  singing  litanies  to  entreat  that  the 
plague  might  be  turned  away.  Then  it  was  that 
he  beheld  an  angel  standing  on  the  tomb  of  Hadrian, 
and  the  plague  ceased.  Ever  after,  the  great  old 
tomb  has  been  called  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo. 

It  was  a  troublous  time,  but  Gregory  was  so 
much  respected  that  he  was  able  to  keep  Rome 
orderly  and  safe,  and  to  make  peace  between  the 
Emperor  Maurice  and  the  Lombards'  king,  Agilulf, 
who  had  an  excellent  wife,  Theodolinda.  She  was 
a  great  friend  of  the  Pope,  wrote  a  letter  to  him, 
and  did  all  she  could  to  support  him.  The  Eastern 
Empire  was  still  owned  at  Rome,  but  when  there 
was  an  attempt  to  make  out  that  the  Patriarch  of 
Constantinople  was  superior  to  the  Pope,  Gregory 
upheld  the  principle  that  no    Patriarch   had   any 


440  Young  Folks'  History  of  Rome. 

right  to  be  above  the  rest,  nor  to  be  called  Univer- 
sal Bishop.  Gregory  was  a  very  great  man,  and 
the  justice  and  wisdom  of  his  management  did 
much  to  make  the  Romans  look  to  their  Pope  as 
the  head  of  affairs  even  after  his  death  in  604. 

The  Greek  Empire  sent  an  officer  to  govern  the 
extreme  South  of  Italy,  which,  like  Rome  and 
Venice,  still  owned  the  Emperor ;  but  all  the 
troops  that  could  be  hired  were  soon  wanted  to 
fight  with  the  Arabs,  whose  false  prophet  Mahom- 
med  had  taught  them  to  spread  religion  with  the 
sword.  There  was  no  one  capable  of  making  head 
against  the  Lombards,  and  the  Popes  only  kept 
them  off  by  treaties  and  good  management ;  and  at 
last,  in  741,  Pope  Gregory  III.  put  himself  under 
the  protection  of  Charles  Martel,  the  great  Frank 
captain  who  had  beaten  the  Mahometans  at  the 
battle  of  Tours.  Charles  Martel  was  rewarded  by 
being  made  a  Roman  senator,  so  was  his  son  Pippin, 
who  was  also  king  of  the  Franks,  and  his  grandson 
Charles  the  Great,  who  had  to  come  often  to  Italy 
to  protect  Rome,  and  at  last  broke  up  the  Lombard 
kingdom,  was  chosen  Roman  Emperor  as  of  old,  and 
crowned  by  Pope  Leo  III.  in  the  year  800.  From 
that  time  there  was  again  the  Western  Empire, 
commonly   called    the    Holy   Roman    Empire,  the 


BATTLE    OF    TOURS. 


Pope    Gregory  the    Great.  443 

Emperor,  or  Csesar  —  Kaisar,  as  the  Germans  still 
call  him  —  being  generally  also  king  of  Germany 
and  king  of  Lombardy.  Rome  was  all  this  time 
chiefly  under  the  power  of  the  Popes,  who  grew  in 
course  of  years  to  be  more  and  more  of  princes, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  claim  more  power  over  the 
Church,  calling  themselves  Universal  Bishops  con- 
trary to  the  teaching  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great. 
All  this,  however,  belongs  to  the  history  of  Europe 
in  modern  times,  and  will  be  found  in  the  history 
of  Germany,  since  there  were  many  struggles  be- 
tween the  Popes  and  Emperors.  For  Rome  has 
really  had  two  histories,  and  those  who  visit  Rome 
and  study  the  wonderful  buildings  there  may  dwell 
on  the  old  or  the  new,  the  pagan  or  the  Christian, 
as  their  minds  lead  them,  or  else  on  that  strange 
middle  time  when  idolatry  and  Christianity  were 
struggling  together. 


By  CHARLOTTE  M.  YONGE. 


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